‘Like drug trade’: Argentina debate to limit online gambling for teenager. Business and economy news

Buenos Aires, Argentina – This is December in the capital of Buenos Aires, and the summer temperature has risen to 35 ° C (95 Fahrenheit).

Surya continuously beat the corrugated metal roofs of Villa Foreito in the neighborhood of a working class in the south of the city of Argentina.

Teenage dirt in flip-flop rides their motorbikes through the streets. Other children look for shady spots to relax and rinse their feet with a garden hose.

Carla ji, who requested oblivion, is one of the teenagers in the neighborhood. At the age of 18, he is near the end of the high school. One of his favorite pastimes was playing football with his friends at the Neberhood Sports Club, where a great player Diego Maradona grew up.

But his hobby took a backseat in the last June when he gambled online.

Carla said, “Almost all my friends from school are involved in online gambling in one or another way.” “They believe that this is a problem.”

Carla is part of a growing trend in Argentina’s society: teenagers and young adults play their money online gambling.

Last October, the Lokpal of the city of Buenos Aires published a report that found that about a quarter of students between the ages of 12 to 19 played online gambling.

The vast majority, 67 percent, cited the need for rapid cash as their inspiration. For example, as poverty increases in Argentina, experts fear that online betting will all become more attractive – and illegal platforms, as well as valid, will spread.

But the question of regulating online gambling has proved to be controversial, especially under the presidential post of hardcore-free-free-Bazar Independent Javier Miley.

Story of Carla

For Carla, it was a crowd of adrenaline that he felt – and needed his family to help avoid poverty – who pushed him to the Internet gambling.

The 18 -year -old, her elder sister Mayara, and live with her six -year -old nephews. The family depends on Mayra’s income.

But in April, Myara lost her gig at a used furniture shop. To generate income, Myra moved the linen of her neighbors to wash for cash.

However, the family has struggled to cover their bills. Myra said that she sometimes goes to bed without dinner, for money.

So Carla decided to take matters into his hands. He said that he replaced his regular football practices with hours locked alone in his room, worked as a cashier in a virtual casino.

A close friend suggested him to give him a job. “Virtual Bingo is so widespread in the neighborhood that most families participate, which makes it normal,” Carla said.

But she argues that her job sucked her in an online Ponzi scheme, a one who depended on the bodies of the recruitment to pay in the system.

“Cashiers collect money from bookies and earn a commission for each new player, which they recruit,” Carla explained.

“But there is a catch: Let’s say that a cashier collects $ 100 in stakes, and the bookies wins $ 150. Bingo administrators give the cashier to disburse $ 50 as a win, but he still still he $ 50 is outstanding for administrators. To avoid paying from his own pocket, the cashier must recruit new bookies to cover his debt. “

Carla remembers that he felt pressure to attract new gamblers on social media, to advertise his bingo ring and share publicity posts.

“It becomes difficult to find the participants,” he said. She finally quit the job in November, after coming to a point where she was no longer able to attract the new gambler and acquire commission.

But her elder sister Myra also became a cashier, and she continues to work on an illegal gambling stage.

She explained that she spends gambling apps for five hours a day, losing money that she spends otherwise on food.

As she used to speak, her phone used to humorize the messages of casino operators continuously, a frequent mosquito. He owes them to $ 18.

“If I can return the time, I don’t join it. It is like drug trade. This forces you to bring friends and family in this system, even if you know it is dangerous, ”said Myra.

A choice of poverty

In Buenos Aires province, a small, in the Agricultural City Tandil, history teacher Eagenia Areregurena saw the beginning of gambling during the Kovid -19 epidemic.

To isolate to prevent the spread of viruses, its students rapidly changed to digital locations for socialization.

“For children, there is not much difference between playing video games and entering a betting platform,” Areregurena said. “Both activities are part of the same endless scrolling experience.”

He saw that boys in his class were more likely to gamble. The Lokpal survey found that 34 percent of teenage boys made online bets compared to 13 percent of girls.

“Online casinos serve as a non-place, where boys, in particular, can embodiment the ego,” Eregrerena said. Some of his students have told her that they have lost more than $ 500 at the same stake, and they sometimes come to her, ask for money.

Experts and critics have credited some increase in online betting for economic instability in Argentina, who have long been suffering from spiral inflation and cumbersome foreign debt.

In December 2023, the President Mili took over, promised dramatic penance measures to curb inflation and remove the country from the recession.

A self-known “pomegranate-capitalist”, he brought his “chainsaw” approach to bureaucracy, regulations and public expenses, reduced or freezing all three.

The results are mixed. Monthly inflation has fallen, and Argentina’s peso has become stronger. Even GDP (GDP) has shown promising signs.

But poverty has also increased under Milli’s administration. The number of Argentina under the poverty line reached more than 50 percent in the previous year, and unemployment continues to increase.

Ergrerena reported that her students see online gambling as an alternative, a way to be free from the cycle of poverty. Eventually, they face limited opportunities in rural areas such as Tandil.

“They can aspire for jobs, such as rural laborers or working in the village, forcibly feeling labor due to excessive wages,” said Areregurena.

“And children need money, like everyone. The price of a night out can be $ 40, and they will not find it there to collect vegetable boxes. ,

Increase in visibility

But the burden of gambling-inspired debt can take adolescents into adulthood.

In the 2024 study of 9,000 young Argentina aged 15 to 29 years, estimated 40 percent were recently admitted in gambling.

Those who said that they were gambling at the time of survey, the most active age group was between 25 and 29: more than 26 percent said that they were currently gambling.

Martin Romero, a professor at Buenos Aires University, led the study. He credits an increase in online betting, for the increasing visibility of platforms.

This month, the website Sportsbet became a major sponsor for the popular Argentine’s Football Team Club Etletico Independent, its brand faced its jersey.

And the country’s two largest football clubs already count gambling platforms among their sponsors: the team is associated with the river plate betting sites codare, while Boca Juniors receives sponsorship from Batson.

“In recent years, we have seen a dramatic growth in aggressive advertising of betting platforms,” ​​Romero said.

“This boom is supported by major Argentina’s football teams, tournaments, players, affected and streamhers who serve as a role model for many children, adolescents and young adults.”

He also stated that Argentina does not have any age restriction for gambling, making the country an attractive destination for companies seeking to expand its market.

“Casinos that can move from Europe due to strict rules can easily establish themselves here,” he said.

Change of legislation

Romero is hoping to change it. He was one of the experts who helped prepare a bill draft, which would require gambling platforms to adopt biometric screening tools to prevent children and adolescents from accessing them.

Bill also stated how gambling sites can advertise, more transparency about the operation of platforms, and punishment for unauthorized sites targeting minors.

But when a version of the bill passed Argentina’s Chamber of Deputy in November, with 54 percent of the votes, the law faces a difficult fight in the Senate.

Argentina’s Lottery, Casino and Quinillas association has advocated against the bill, and Milli has pledged to pass it to pass it, which is as part of its push for deragulation. .

Under its administration, Argentina has made it legal for teenagers under 13 to invest in the stock market.

The members of his party have similarly argued that regulating online gambling will lead to unnecessary limitations on personal freedom.

“This is a responsibility for families, not the state,” Lilia Lemine, a former stylist and a member of the Chamber of Deputy, said during the November debate.

“Once again, the state is ending its limit while talking about personal decisions, and our government is against it.”

But Romero said that this policy helps the parents to give the assumption that “when teenagers bet, they are taking their first step as investors in finance”.

He also stated that, in November, Miley appointed Juan Botista Ordonase as a government secretary for children, teenagers and families. OrdoneZ claims a background in gambling: he first serves as the CEO of an online betting site, Codeere.

“I am not surprised that she wants to veto this law,” said Romero.

But he said that the need for regulations is putting pressure. Depending on their figures, two of the Pesos teenage of every three Argentina are received from their parents for daily expenses, simply gambling from a distance.