iGaming Daily

Isadora (00:01.778)
While passing regulation is key to setting up a healthy industry, it is only the first step of a never -ending stairway.

While passing regulation is key to setting up a healthy industry, it is only the first step of a never -ending stairway. New hurdles will come up every now and then, but through communication and control, strong markets will continue climbing the way to success. Welcome to iGaming Daily. I am Isadora Marcanti, your host for today's podcast, senior journalist for SBC Notícias Brasil, and I will guide you through the struggles South America is going through to get their regulated iGaming markets in

more specifically in Argentina and Uruguay. For that I'm joined by SBC Noticias editor Lucia Gando. How are you, Lu?

Lucía (00:58.082)
Hello, it's so nice to hear you as a host.

Isadora (01:02.365)
I'm happy to be a host today. Although Fer is better than me on that, I'm glad to be here and talking about... Tell me. Yeah, his.

Lucía (01:09.238)
Well, no, start, but yours is, your hosting is super cool.

Isadora (01:18.566)
thank you, thank you. And since we mentioned FAIR, I'm also joined by the senior journalist for Espis Noticias, Fernando Nod. How are you, FAIR?

Fernando Noodt (01:26.488)
Well, I'm absolutely flattered. Flattered. Sorry about my pronunciation there, but I'm also relieved of the pressure of being the host, but I know we are all stars. It's not you keep saying, you're so good at hosting. Yeah, I maybe I'll take that. I'll take that. Who wouldn't take a nice compliment? Right. But we're all stars. We're all stars. Everyone on the team of iGamingDaily is definitely a star.

Lucía (01:43.18)
Hahaha

Isadora (01:46.545)
you

Isadora (01:56.592)
Yeah.

Fernando Noodt (01:57.045)
So yeah, be sure to subscribe and follow us on every platform you listen to the podcast in.

Lucía (02:04.742)
Yeah, SBCC chose us

Isadora (02:07.569)
Yeah, it's true, it's true. Like, SBC is good on that. But we are here to talk about Argentina and Uruguay, so let's start with Argentina, because the country has been pushing regulation for iGaming most of its provinces for some time now, but it is still battling to make the most out of it. Why don't you guys brief us about the situation? Fair?

Fernando Noodt (02:31.096)
Yeah, well, first, let's start by explaining everyone that Argentina under its constitution states that each province has to regulate and oversee its own market, its own regulation for the gaming industry. So there's no nationwide legislation. There's no unified law that oversees the industry, but each province has their own.

their own bill, their own regulation, some still don't. But a few years ago, especially with COVID -19 and lockdowns taking over the world, provinces started passing laws to approve a legal framework to the market and began kicking off their own iGaming markets with online casino, with sports betting. So people have been betting before on unlicensed platforms. So some people were familiar with

with the industry but with regulation came a more notorious presence of the industry in the country especially in Buenos Aires in the city of Buenos Aires in the province of Buenos Aires which were among the first to regulate so

they start online operators, international operators started applying for licenses and started entering the market and becoming more and more popular through advertising efforts. But what happened at the same time is that there's still a heavy presence of unlicensed companies that target the Argentinian market and that are advertised through YouTubers, through celebrities and other influencers. We mentioned the last

In the last episode we were here, we mentioned the government going after...

Fernando Noodt (04:23.854)
former big brother participants that were promoting illegal operations where that's a big issue still today. And according to official data, 80 % of the bets placed online are illegal while licensed companies only hold 20 % of the betting volume in Argentina. So not even half, it's not even half and half. It's 80 % illegal, 20 % legal betting in Argentina.

Licensed operators only hold 20 % of the activity in the whole market. So with that in mind.

Lucía (05:00.642)
That's very concerning.

Fernando Noodt (05:02.54)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Because you would think that with regulation comes a more safe environment, a more responsible environment, but the industry is actually in a very tight spot, right? Because with regulated companies trying to promote their operations and compete in a tough market, there are still illegal websites that are making the most out of the market without enforcing any type of...

of control over who's betting, like whether they are old enough or not, which is actually a major concern, or where their money of the bettors is coming from. So you have.

legal companies promoting themselves, doing marketing efforts, and illegal companies taking advantage of it and not taking any measures to prevent the externalities, let's say, of the industry. So in this scenario, underage gambling has become a major concern in Argentina with kids even playing on their phones while they are at school. And that has turned the

eye to gambling because 80 % of gambling is illegal so there are no controls on the market at all.

Lucía (06:21.772)
Also taking into account that fan engagement in the sports sector has grown since the World Cup here in Argentina. it's like the audience is growing and also the betting audience is growing.

Isadora (06:39.49)
Oh yeah, 80 % is a very high percentage and underage gambling is, I would say it's a cancer in the industry especially because we have a very high amount of fraudulent companies, fraudulent operators operating not only in Argentina but in other countries in Latam and in Brazil as well. But what approach are the authorities taking to tackle this issue?

Lucía (07:08.12)
Well, the latest news about this is that the province of Buenos Aires, which is the most populated region of the country, presented a special program to address the participation of teenagers in night gaming platforms. This program, which will also be applied, only be applied in the province of Buenos Aires, it is directly focused on problem gambling among

minors and it covers measures to prevent vetting among teenagers but also psychological treatments for those who already are affected by problem gambling. Like the government detected that it's already an issue. They released a study that shows that almost 40 % of teenagers, around 34%.

But yeah, almost 40 % of teenagers in Buenos Aires schools have made a bet recently or in their lives. So it's a really high amount, yeah. So this program will also command more studies about this, like how they are.

Isadora (08:14.924)
wow.

Lucía (08:29.975)
how they are... I can't the word... how to the ID checks

Fernando Noodt (08:36.075)
What's worth you to try it to the limits?

Fernando Noodt (08:44.823)
or like to...

Lucía (08:48.596)
I

Isadora (08:49.02)
If hair doesn't know, I don't know. I know even less.

Lucía (08:52.918)
Okay, okay, okay. Like, when you do, when you, sorry, I forget how to speak.

Like, how do

Isadora (09:06.446)
You

Lucía (09:11.626)
avoid to check their IDs and bank accounts.

Isadora (09:17.339)
Not doing them?

Fernando Noodt (09:18.519)
by background checks.

Lucía (09:20.512)
Okay. How they... Okay.

Isadora (09:23.404)
you I see.

Lucía (09:28.739)
What?

Lucía (09:32.312)
performing.

Fernando Noodt (09:34.167)
Yeah, like to do a background check.

Isadora (09:34.846)
they do it or they don't do it? So they don't do ID verifications. Yeah.

Lucía (09:37.09)
they don't do

Fernando Noodt (09:41.025)
they don't perform background checks or ID verification.

Lucía (09:43.798)
Okay, okay, so again. Well, this is a high amount of teenagers that are participating in iGaming platforms and the government will release more studies about how they avoid the background check -ins on their IDs and bank accounts to be able to participate, especially as Fer mentioned, in iLegal.

gaming platforms because we know that those operators that have their licenses both in province and the city of Buenos Aires have a lot of verification steps to avoid the participation of teenagers and other people that are banned from these platforms. So yes, we know

the provinces working in this program, but the city of Buenos Aires, which is the capital city of Argentina, we recently mentioned in the previous podcast, I think that the government decided to stop granting licenses to new operators. The market used to operate freely, especially regarding the amount of licenses, but from now on, it's just going to work with the current

11 operators that have already approved their platforms. So this, are talking about the most populated region in the country. this is like most of the gaming market we are talking about. But Buenos Aires, both province and cities, not the only region

that are addressing these measures. In SBC Noticias, we've been also covering and reporting some statements from other provinces such as Santa Fe and Mendoza that are working on improving their frameworks to prevent minors to participate in gaming platforms. As Fer mentioned, Argentina doesn't have like a national

Lucía (12:08.748)
regulator to address gaming industry, but all the regulators are working together under ALEA, La Asociación de Loterías Casinos y Quinielas de Argentina, where Ida Lopez is the president. She's the first female president in the history of the entity. She's been super vocal about responsible gaming, regulation on advertising, prevention

problem gambling among other hot topics. So I think Argentina is working together to address this as a nation, not only in the provinces.

Isadora (12:48.829)
Yeah, we cannot say that Argentina is doing nothing to prevent that. They are trying to find a solution. But how this situation impacts society's perception of the industry in the country?

Fernando Noodt (13:02.382)
Well, like we said before, regulated operators are doing their biggest efforts to compete through marketing campaigns. And so you have some of the biggest football teams in the country sponsored by sport betting companies. The companies are also advertising on TV, on the streets, in also doing non -traditional ad campaigns like logos on shopping bags. Last week I bought something on a...

like candy store and got a bag with the sports betting company logo on it. And all types of marketing campaigns and the public opinion seemingly fails to recognize that these operators are paying taxes and have security measures in place to prevent miners from playing apart from other things like limits and that sort of stuff. So they turn on their sirens and their alarms and

they start worrying about all these campaigns and all this advertising so people tend to put them in the same bag as illegal operators which don't have any type of restrictions which are the chosen destination actually for miners who look to place bets so considering the marketing push from regulated companies and the unethical behavior of the unlicensed ones people, lawmakers, different segments of the society have been turning against the industry

more and more every day, every week, every month, you keep seeing more and more people talking against the industry. And over the last few hours, actually, we just covered this story on SVC Noticias, the Catholic Church. Let me remind the audience that actually the Catholic Church has a big influence in Argentina's politics. Let's remind us that the poet is actually Argentinian, right? Pope Francis, I was actually born in the city of Buenos Aires. And the church in Argentina,

not the Vatican Church, the Catholic Church in Argentina issued a statement calling for measures to restrict the gambling industry like they said the activity is growing exponentially among the youth who are especially vulnerable to the stimulus of gambling. They asked the authorities to release a note that each district or jurisdiction that regulates online gambling to take immediate

Fernando Noodt (15:29.26)
even though they recognize that some are taking measures so they say, okay, we know some are but all all regulations, all regulators, sorry, need to take a step and prevent the access of minors to the sites that have been legalized which actually happens like the legal websites don't allow minors to play in the websites if you go and register to any of these sites you will get a very thorough

registration process and identity check to see you are you're actually old enough to be playing but they also voiced their concern about illegal sites that should be blocked immediately this is what the note says and they also show concerns about about the ties of the industry and football because like I said

The biggest teams in Argentinian football have ties with gambling companies because they have signed sponsorship deals. Some in the main sponsor area, like in the chest of their shirt, but others in the back and the sleeves and whatever. I would say most football teams in Argentina have a sponsorship deal with the industry. So they...

They voice their concern about this. don't, the church actually doesn't like that the gambling industry is promoting itself in football teams because they say, okay, football is very consumed by the...

by underage people, Like minors are big consumers of football. So they should not be advertising gambling. Football teams should not be advertising gambling. so that's one of the suggestions the church published for regulators to take action, including others like blocking gambling sites in schools, like...

Fernando Noodt (17:39.885)
Actually the city of Buenos Aires has already done and we already mentioned that in the previous episode blocking internet domains of illegal sites increasing the penalties of the the of the penal code Sorry, if I didn't say that wrong that might sound terribly wrong, but like the legislation that that that punishes

crime, right? That legislation should be amended to include and set bigger fines, bigger sentences for those who infringe the law, and also to restrict means of payments associated with accounts that receive

Fernando Noodt (18:27.105)
money from the state, know, like people who are in a vulnerable environment that receive money from the state and those bank accounts should be blocked, they should cherished and also the closure of bank accounts that have been used to place illegal bets, they are calling for that to be closed, so people are less prone to be making their bets on illegal websites.

Isadora (18:57.933)
Yeah, but just want to do a reminder here before we continue. If you, our listener, want to stay up to date with everything going on in Argentina, subscribe to the SBC Noticias newsletter and follow its social media channels. But going back and speaking of baking and payments, let's take the ferry across the Rio de la Plata. Is my pronunciation correct?

Fernando Noodt (19:24.)
perfect.

Lucía (19:24.096)
Yeah, that's

Isadora (19:24.593)
yeah or if you cannot speak Spanish perfectly like I do you can say La Plata River and well let's talk about the latest developments regarding a game in Uruguay. would you like to take the lead on that?

Lucía (19:40.192)
Yeah, of course. Well, Uruguay is a unique market right now in Latin America. They have legalized sports betting and iGaming, but only in one platform which is operated by the government. it's not a very wide market, but it is operating.

And now the national bank, El Banco Central, I don't know if it's the central bank. Well, it has extended the implications of an already approved measure against international transactions related to betting. The measure was already applied to formal banks, but will now also impact independent

Fernando Noodt (20:14.476)
the Citro bike.

Lucía (20:37.986)
platforms, so they will have to face the same restrictions as formal banks in regards of international transactions and payment options to gaming operators. under the new regulation,

These platforms will not be able to approve international and local transactions to iGaming and sports betting platforms. We have to, as I mentioned, to take into account that there's only one legal site. So most of the operations of iGaming and sports betting platforms in the country are illegal in some way.

Uruguay is not planning right now to legalize or expand its market. We know that the Congress is debating a new regulation about this, it has been paralyzed in the Congress since the last few years. So we are not seeing that they're taking another step.

So yes, it's following the same restrictive leads of the rest of Latin America regarding iGaming in general and sports betting. But well, we know that in Latin America at least it's not that hard to break the laws without real consequences. let's see how these transactions will go from now on.

Isadora (22:19.21)
That's so true.

Isadora (22:28.861)
and fair before we finish. Let us know what's the status of high gaming in Uruguay right now.

Fernando Noodt (22:36.341)
like Lu said, actually there's a state -owned monopoly for online gaming and sports betting. right now the state is the only authorized operator for iGaming in Uruguay. So it's the Banca de Quineelas del Uruguay, which is the entity that oversees there and it's the operator and oversees the industry. And when asked about

whether it should maintain the monopoly model. The government actually said this is actually not a monopoly because the Banca de Quinelas, which is the entity, is actually comprised of 28 entities from thousands of agents, lottery agents, that take part of it and defended the model saying that it's not actually a monopoly, but we can all see that if it's controlled by the

It's actually a monopoly because the state is the one that oversees the operation. like Luzet, there's actually not a push right now to legalize the industry and to open the business to private companies, to more operators. There was a push a few years ago, but it got swamped, like lawmakers called it, after it was aborted by the Chamber of Deputies. I don't remember what.

the deputies or the senators. No, was the Senate approved it, approved a new legislation, but the lower chamber didn't make any progress with it. So we still have the state -owned monopoly and I think we'll have it for quite some time from now. So probably nothing's going to change in Uruguay in the near future.

Isadora (24:30.73)
Well, we're gonna let you go now. Thank you so much, Lou and Fair, for this great episode today. And a special thanks to Anaya, our producer, for producing this brilliant episode, as you always do. Thank you. And keep up to date with everything that happens in the iGaming universe on the iGaming day LinkedIn page. Don't forget to follow us there. You'll miss a lot. Good information if you do. See you next time. let me do this last bit again. I didn't like it. Okay.

Lucía (24:59.624)
But just a question, you haven't mentioned OptiMove, is that right?

Fernando Noodt (25:05.437)
you

Isadora (25:06.589)
okay, so I can do it. We can do it. Opti -move and the end again. I forgot about opti -move.

Very well. Yes, that was a very good one. I completely forgot. Where is it?

Lucía (25:17.55)
Good catch.

Fernando Noodt (25:19.084)
Do you have the text?

Fernando Noodt (25:25.236)
It's pinned on the podcast channel. Podcast and daily. Let me send it on

on the Riverside chat.

Isadora (25:38.722)
found it. Thank you for it. So I'm just going to do it.

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Isadora (26:22.614)
Keep up to date with everything that happens in the iGaming universe on the iGaming Daily LinkedIn page. Don't forget to follow us there. You will miss a lot of good information if you do. See you next time. Now we