Authorisation per operator, limited brands per authorisation
Brazil
The largest market to move from unlicensed to licensed in recent years, with betting and casino under one authorisation.
Licensed online casino
Argentina
There is no national licence: each province and the City of Buenos Aires regulate separately.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Partly restricted | Licensed in part only, or licensed subject to limits that exclude part of the usual product. |
| Sports betting | Partly restricted | Licensed in part only, or licensed subject to limits that exclude part of the usual product. |
| Online poker | Partly restricted | Licensed in part only, or licensed subject to limits that exclude part of the usual product. |
| Lottery | State monopoly | Reserved to a state or state-controlled operator; no commercial licence is available. |
How the market works
Argentina has no national online gambling licence. Gambling is a provincial competence, so an operator seeking national reach applies separately in each province and in the autonomous City of Buenos Aires, incorporates locally, and complies with terms that differ between jurisdictions.
The City of Buenos Aires regulator and the Province of Buenos Aires institute ran the first online licensing rounds from 2019, and their frameworks influenced the provinces that followed. Some provinces have since licensed, others remain closed, and a few have tied online licences to existing land-based operators.
The consequence for analysis is that Argentine figures are rarely comparable across the country, and a market share quoted for one province tells you nothing about the next. The unlicensed sector remains significant in provinces that have not licensed.
Who regulates it
Argentine provincial gaming authorities (LOTBA and provincial boards), based in Buenos Aires and operating under Provincial gaming legislation. Argentina licenses online gambling province by province, with the City of Buenos Aires regulator the best known.
Licence types issued
- Provincial online gaming licences, issued separately in each jurisdiction
Questions about Argentina
Other markets in Latin America
Concession to operate a state monopoly activity
Colombia
The first Latin American country to licence online gambling nationally, and the regional template.
Licensed online casino
Online activity authorised as an annex to a land-based permit
Mexico
A large market with no modern online statute: operators work through holders of permits issued under 1947 legislation.
Partly restricted online casino
Authorisation by the gaming directorate
Peru
A quick, comparatively low-cost licensing regime that became a common first step into the region.
Licensed online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.