Chubut lottery to add AI tools to fight illegal gambling in November

Lotería del Chubut says it will look at an AI-based platform at ALEA’s national meeting in Puerto Madryn in November to identify unauthorized betting sites, flag bank accounts tied to illicit operations, and build case files for the courts. For PSPs and acquiring teams, the interesting part is not the slogan; it is the proposed reach into accounts and payment rails.

1. Ramiro Ibarra, president of the Instituto de Asistencia Social (IAS)–Lotería del Chubut, said the agency will step up enforcement against illegal gambling with new technology. The platform under review would detect non-authorized betting sites and also help identify and block bank accounts linked to clandestine activity.
2. The same tool would generate information that can be presented before the courts. In practice, that means the operator is not talking only about takedowns of websites, but about evidence gathering that can feed bank blocks and legal action.
3. Ibarra said illegal gambling currently represents a significant part of the market, which is why the agency wants deeper cooperation among provincial lotteries and stronger oversight mechanisms. ALEA’s national meeting in Puerto Madryn in November will be the venue for that discussion.
4. On the regulated side, online gambling in Chubut operates through BetWarrior and is restricted to adults. The local lottery also says its quiniela remains one of its main revenue sources, with between $900 and $1.000 million per month allocated to prize payments, and a network of agencies that generates more than 300 formal jobs.
5. The anti-illegal-gambling push is paired with prevention efforts: on 1 October, journalist Nico Cayetano will give a talk on gambling addiction at the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF) in Trelew. Lotería del Chubut also published a schedule of events for the next months, including Fiesta del Novillito in 28 de Julio on 10 October, Telebingo Deportivo on 24 and 25 October at Club Huracán in Trelew, and Telebingo Navideño on 13 December.

The agency says it operates with its own funding and does not receive money from the provincial Treasury. For payment companies, that matters because the local regulator is openly framing the issue around monitoring, enforcement, and payment-linked controls, not just site blocking.