Argentina provincial government launches online gambling site

Provincial lawmakers in Argentina’s Misiones province have approved online gambling activity managed by the provincial lottery and casino authority (IPlyC) and Misiones-based private company Integrated Systems SA.

This week the partnership launched MisionBet, which offers a range of online gambling variants to Misiones residents, including sports betting, casino and poker action.

Eduardo Torres, who heads up IPlyC, revealed at the launch of the new site that the partnership has ambitions to ultimately expand operations throughout Argentina, contingent on the agreement of national and provincial legislators in 22 other provinces.

Misiones, which is situated in the north east of Argentina, has long been a pioneer in online gambling, in 2007 issuing online sports betting licenses, a move which triggered litigation by the monopoly-holding Loteria Nacional. That resulted in a national court ruling compelling Misiones to confine such activity within its provincial boundaries and to local residents .

Like South Africa, Argentina has dithered for years over whether to legalise an open, regulated and competitive online gambling market, in the meantime doing little to enforce the laws against offshore online operators.

Torres says that IPlyC has withdrawn from the national Association of Lotteries, Pools and Casinos of Argentina, accusing the body of hypocrisy and irresponsibility in sending fact finding teams abroad to study other regulatory regimes but not producing any results.

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