Argentina’s La Libertad Avanza Senate bloc leader Patricia Bullrich said the chamber would take up legislation aimed at preventing gambling harm among children and restricting online-betting advertising in the coming weeks, following renewed pressure from the Catholic Church and opposition legislators.
The announcement marked a potential movement for a measure approved by the Chamber of Deputies nearly two years ago. Bullrich, who leads President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza bloc in the Senate, told her senators she would promote consideration without waiting for another meeting of the Casa Rosada Political Council.
The Episcopal Commission for Social Ministry, CEPAS, had urged senators in an October letter to resume work immediately and reach the agreements needed to pass the bill. The commission said gambling-related harm was apparent in families, schools, clubs and communities, particularly affecting minors and vulnerable people, and launched a petition supporting the measure.
CEPAS said it had pressed for action on the issue for more than two years. It had sought urgent consideration in the lower house in November 2024, then called on the Senate to act in February 2025. Its latest intervention warned that inaction could impose human, family, social and health costs on people and communities rather than those benefiting from gambling.
Victoria Tolosa Paz and other deputies have also sought meetings with the Senate committees responsible for the legislation. Separately, the Argentine Episcopal Conference renewed its demand on Nov. 5, when its president Marcelo Colombo urged the Senate to act before the Deputies-approved measure lost parliamentary status.
The Chamber of Deputies passed the bill on Nov. 27, 2024, by 139 votes to 36, with 59 abstentions. It still requires Senate approval to become law. Senators unanimously supported Lucía Corpacci’s Oct. 29 motion to give the measure priority, but that procedural decision did not ensure either a debate or a vote.
The Senate’s Health, General Legislation, and Justice and Criminal Affairs committees began examining gambling-harm and online-betting proposals in a joint October session. People close to Bullrich said committee consideration of the bill was expected before Nov. 20, although Bullrich did not give a date for a debate or floor vote.
The legislation would broadly prohibit online-gambling advertising across television, radio, social media and other channels. The restrictions would extend to influencers, athletes and other public figures, as well as sports sponsorships, stadium naming rights, gambling branding on sports clothing and promotion at concerts, festivals and other cultural events.
Advertising would remain permitted inside authorised gambling premises, betting agencies and lottery outlets, provided it displayed prominent health warnings and information on support services. The bill would also bar welcome bonuses and prohibit under-18s from accessing online gambling.
Operators would have to check users’ identity and age using facial recognition linked to RENAPER, the national population register. Those checks would apply at registration, at the beginning of each session, during play and before winnings were paid.
The proposal would ban credit-card gambling payments. Electronic wallets could be used only with funds already held in the account, without credit functions, subject to daily transaction limits; providers would also have to stop minors using wallets for gambling.
It would additionally establish a national self-exclusion register, integrating provincial systems and covering jurisdictions without one. Operators would be required to identify listed users and bar them from gambling until the period of exclusion ended.
Ordinary congressional sessions end on Nov. 30, although the bill retains parliamentary status until March 1, 2027. Consideration in extraordinary sessions would require the executive to put it on the agenda, while any Senate amendments would send the bill back to the Chamber of Deputies.
