Actress Florencia Peña expressed to the media her concern about the case she is involved in.
Argentina.- Last Tuesday, October 22, prosecutor Juan Rozas, from the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Gambling of Buenos Aires City began taking statements from the influencers summoned by the Justice for promoting unlicensed betting sites through social networks.
There are 16 influencers under scrutiny as a result of a judicial investigation that included raids and a detention in a private neighborhood of the Atlantic Coast of Buenos Aires.
Among those investigated are actresses, actors, singers, and among the first names that emerged was Florencia Peña. The summons were issued to appear at the prosecutor's office, located at 1333 Paseo Colón Avenue. The case was initiated following a complaint by the Argentine Chamber of Casino Rooms, Bingos, and Annexes.
Florencia Peña, the host of Cantando 2024 (América TV) spoke with El Ejército de la mañana (Bondi Live), and described how the events unfolded: "I receive many job offers, some I do and some I don't, this one seemed like a normal job supposedly, it came through an agency, it was two stories and I said 'let's go ahead'. It turns out it was clandestine and, as soon as I found out through the media, I didn't do it anymore. Ethically it's not right, and with this, a can of worms was opened, I didn't know that 80 percent of gambling in Argentina is illegal."
Also, when she received the summons to testify, the actress expressed: "I have to go testify, yes. A horror that. I presented the chats about how the hiring seemed all legal."
"I know there are many of us involved in this, that we were lied to. I am astonished that they wanted to make something that is illegal so visible, a lot of impunity," the actress assured.
The list also includes: Elián Valenzuela (L-Gante), Marito Laurens, known on TikTok as "Your Trusted Butcher", pilot Traniela Campolieto, Morena Rial, Florencia Vigna, Alma Berezowski, Mathias “Coker” Nicolás Vasile, and Joaquín López. Additionally, former Big Brother contestants Juliana “Furia” Scaglione, Romina Uhrig, Williams López, Agostina Spinelli, Federico “Manzana” Farias, Emmanuel Vich, and Camila Lattanzio were also notified.
The prosecutor's office has screenshots, videos, and other evidence of the promotions carried out by the accused.
The Cyberpatrol Division of the Argentine Federal Police identified over five months various users who promoted online games trying to attract players to the "Virtual Casino".
As judicial sources explained, they were charged with alleged infringement of article 301 bis of the Penal Code which penalizes anyone who exploits, manages, operates, or organizes "by themselves or through others, any modality or system of capturing gambling games without the pertinent authorization issued by the competent jurisdictional authority."
Due to the complaints made by the City of Buenos Aires through Lotería de la Ciudad (LOTBA) to combat child gambling addiction and illegal betting, on Tuesday, October 8, the Justice carried out 30 raids and dismantled an organization that exploited illegal online gaming platforms. The mega-operation resulted in four people detained, more than 1800 illegal pages blocked, and the judicial notification of the influencers.
As part of the operation, at least 1,835 sites were blocked, adding to the list of more than 200 pages that the City's Public Prosecutor's Office had already removed in September of this year. Also, 16 celebrities and influencers were judicially notified for the "promotion and recruitment of bettors through advertising they have carried out on social networks and other media."
