Argentina: gambling regulation and licensing
Argentine Republic
- Online casinoRegulated
- Online sports bettingRegulated
- Online pokerRegulated
- Regulator
- No national gambling regulator (provincial competence)
- Headline tax
- Not yet verified
- Licence required
- Yes
- Last verified
- 30 Aug 2026
Summary
Argentina is the clearest example in the map of a country with no national gambling regulator. Licensing competence sits with the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, each of which writes its own online rules, so an operator wanting national coverage must run more than twenty separate applications rather than one. The City licenses through LOTBA S.E. on five-year permits, and the Province of Buenos Aires through the IPLyC on 15-year licences under Law 15.079 and Decree 181/19, with licensed sites recognisable by their .bet.ar domain. That domain convention is unusual and useful: it gives players and payment providers a visible marker of provincial authorisation. What is national is the tax and the criminal exposure. A federal indirect tax on online betting runs from 2.5% to 15% depending on the operator residence and registry status, deliberately penalising offshore supply, and Section 301 bis of the Criminal Code makes operating without the competent authority approval a criminal offence. The result is a market that is genuinely open but expensive and slow to enter at scale, where the practical constraint is provincial fragmentation rather than any national policy on gambling itself.
Key facts
- Regulator
- No national gambling regulator (provincial competence)
- Regulator type
- Sub-national body
- Headline tax
- Not yet verified
- Licence required
- Yes
- Minimum age
- 18+
- Tax base
- Two layers. Federally, the indirect tax on online betting under Law 27.346 as amended by Law 27.591 is charged on amounts wagered at rates set by operator residence and registry status: 2.5 per cent for Argentine-resident operators registered in the Registry that met investment and payroll conditions, 5 per cent for registered residents without them, 7.5 per cent for unregistered residents, 10 per cent for registered non-residents outside low-tax jurisdictions and 15 per cent for unregistered non-residents or those resident in low or nil-tax jurisdictions. It is paid every 15 days. Provincially, operators additionally pay turnover tax on gross gaming revenue, regulator fees and stamp tax, at rates that vary by jurisdiction.
- Capital
- Buenos Aires
- Currency
- ARS
- Official languages
- Spanish
Legal framework
Primary statutes
National Criminal Code, Section 301 bis
Codigo Penal de la Nacion, articulo 301 bis
- In force
- Yes
- Summary
- Criminalises exploiting, administering or operating games of chance without authorisation from the competent authority. Because competence sits with the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires, the authority that matters is the provincial one.
Law 15.079 (Province of Buenos Aires)
Ley 15.079 y Decreto 181/19
- Year
- 2019
- In force
- Yes
- Summary
- Authorised online gambling in the Province of Buenos Aires and, with implementing Decree 181/19, provided for seven licences to administer and operate online games. Licensed platforms operate on .bet.ar domains and gambling is prohibited to anyone under 18.
Secondary instruments
Law 27.346 as amended by Law 27.591, and Decree 293/2022 (indirect tax on online betting)
Ley 27.346, Ley 27.591 y Decreto 293/2022
- Year
- 2016
- In force
- Yes
- Summary
- The federal indirect tax on online betting was created by Law 27.346 in December 2016, given progressive rates by Law 27.591 in December 2020, and regulated by Decree 293/2022 of 2 June 2022, which also underpins the Registry for Online Control of the betting system. This is one of the few genuinely national elements of Argentine online gambling.
Licensing
- Licence required
- Yes
- Application window
- Not yet verified
- Local establishment required
- Not yet verified
- Local server required
- Not yet verified
- Local domain required
- .bet.ar for licensed sites in the Province of Buenos Aires
- Barriers to entry
- The barrier is multiplicity, not difficulty. There is no national licence, so an operator must license separately in each of the 23 provinces and the City of Buenos Aires where it wants to take bets, each with its own regulator, tender, term, fees and turnover tax. ICLG reports that the City of Buenos Aires open tender closed in June 2024 and LOTBA is not issuing new licences, and that as of September 2025 only two of the 24 local jurisdictions had no active online operators, with only Santiago del Estero still lacking a framework.
Licence types
Online gaming agency permit (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires)
- Scope
- Online casino and betting offered to players in the City of Buenos Aires, licensed by LOTBA S.E.
- Term
- Five years, renewable for a further five years
Online gaming licence (Province of Buenos Aires)
- Scope
- Online casino and betting in the Province of Buenos Aires under Law 15.079 and Decree 181/19, on a .bet.ar domain.
- Term
- 15 years, non-renewable
Provincial licences elsewhere
- Scope
- Other provinces run their own regimes with their own terms, for example Mendoza at 10 years with a possible one-year extension and Cordoba with up to 20 authorised licences.
Taxation
- Headline GGR tax
- Not yet verified
- Effective date
- Not yet verified
- Tax base
- Two layers. Federally, the indirect tax on online betting under Law 27.346 as amended by Law 27.591 is charged on amounts wagered at rates set by operator residence and registry status: 2.5 per cent for Argentine-resident operators registered in the Registry that met investment and payroll conditions, 5 per cent for registered residents without them, 7.5 per cent for unregistered residents, 10 per cent for registered non-residents outside low-tax jurisdictions and 15 per cent for unregistered non-residents or those resident in low or nil-tax jurisdictions. It is paid every 15 days. Provincially, operators additionally pay turnover tax on gross gaming revenue, regulator fees and stamp tax, at rates that vary by jurisdiction.
Compliance
- Minimum age
- 18+
- National self-exclusion
- Not yet verified
- KYC requirements
- Not yet verified
- Stake limits
- Not yet verified
Advertising
- Advertising permitted
- Yes
- Affiliate rules
- Affiliates are not separately licensed. Only operators authorised by the relevant provincial regulator may be promoted, and promotion of unauthorised sites has been actively enforced against.
- Celebrity and influencer rules
- Influencer promotion of unauthorised operators has been an explicit enforcement target for LOTBA, so the exposure attaches to the promoter as well as to the operator.
- Penalties for breach
- Enforcement is provincial. LOTBA in the City of Buenos Aires blocks unauthorised sites and acts against those promoting them, and Section 301 bis of the Criminal Code applies to operating without the competent authority approval.
Restrictions
- There is no national advertising regime, because licensing competence sits with the provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
- In the City of Buenos Aires, Law 6.330 prohibits the dissemination and promotion of gambling and betting in public spaces, whether through static or digital supports or in any other format.
- LOTBA has acted against unauthorised sites and against influencers promoting them, treating influencer promotion of unlicensed operators as an enforcement target rather than a grey area.
- The Province of Buenos Aires, through the IPLyC, has been developing rules to limit advertising by authorised platforms, with the protection of minors as the stated focus.
- Licensed sites are identifiable by their .bet.ar domain, which is the practical marker of what may lawfully be promoted.
Outlook
Expect the fragmentation to persist. The questions worth tracking are the remaining provincial tenders, whether provinces converge on licence terms and tax, and how effectively the provinces and the federal registry squeeze offshore supply. Anyone modelling Argentina as a single market will get the cost base wrong.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a national online gambling licence in Argentina?
- No. There is no national regulator and no national licence. Each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires licenses and supervises separately.
- Who regulates online gambling in Buenos Aires?
- Two different bodies. LOTBA S.E. regulates the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, and the Instituto Provincial de Loteria y Casinos regulates the separate Province of Buenos Aires.
Sources
- Loteria de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (LOTBA S.E.)
Gobierno de la Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires
Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026 - Juego online - Loteria de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (IPLyC)
Instituto Provincial de Loteria y Casinos, Provincia de Buenos Aires
Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026 - Impuesto indirecto sobre las apuestas online
Gobierno de Argentina (argentina.gob.ar)
Tier 1Accessed 4 Aug 2026 - Gambling Laws and Regulations 2026 - Argentina
ICLG (International Comparative Legal Guides)
Tier 3Accessed 4 Aug 2026