The General Legislation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Province of Buenos Aires has given the green light to the initiative.
Argentina.- The General Legislation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the province of Buenos Aires has approved a bill introduced in the Buenos Aires Legislature by deputy Germán Di Cesare, from Unión por la Patria, which prohibits entry to bingos and casinos for individuals listed in the Registry of Delinquent Alimony Debtors.
The proposal was presented during a meeting chaired by deputy Rubén Eslaiman and is progressing in the Chamber of Deputies. It joins other similar initiatives like those presented in Catamarca and San Juan, where the law has already been enacted.
According to the bill, those with alimony debts will not be able to access gaming rooms throughout the province, in an effort to prioritize the rights of children and adolescents affected by the non-compliance with these obligations.
Upon presenting the text, Di Cesare said: “This project seeks to protect the rights of children and adolescents. The goal is clear: those who do not fulfill their duties towards their children will not be able to participate in recreational activities until they regularize their situation”.
See also: Parliamentary treatment: the Senate of the Province of Buenos Aires advances with a comprehensive gambling law
In this regard, the author of the project explained that "the non-compliance with alimony is a violation of an essential right of children and adolescents and also implies that the person who covers that lack is the one who remains in charge". Therefore, this initiative seeks to sanction and encourage compliance with these fundamental obligations.
Di Cesare emphasized: “We have to give tools to the Justice and the State to be able to demand from those debtors who do not fulfill their responsibilities”.
Additionally, the committee approved the project of Governor Kicillof that regulates and expands the Registry of Delinquent Alimony Debtors, with the aim of strengthening the compliance with alimony payments in Buenos Aires.
The Registry of Delinquent Alimony Debtors, created by Law 13.074, aims to register by judicial order all individuals obligated to pay alimony by final judgment or by judicially approved agreement, who owe a certain number of payments (three consecutive payments or five alternating ones) after being formally demanded to pay.
Last June, the Chamber of Deputies of San Juan enacted Law 7072 which establishes that alimony debtors in the province will not be able to access casinos or gambling rooms in the San Juan territory. The project was presented by the official inter-bloc Cambia San Juan and was discussed in the chamber by Juan de la Cruz Córdoba. Other legislators who spoke and supported it were Fernanda Paredes and Mario Herrero.
According to the law, those who maintain three or more consecutive payments or five (or more) alternating alimony payments, provisional or definitive, can be part of the registry, if so ruled by a Family judge.
Last week in neighboring Chile, the Family Commission of the Chamber of Deputies advanced in the processing of the legislative initiative that proposes to prohibit alimony debtors from entering and betting in casino gaming rooms and racetracks in the country following the attendance of Verónica Silva, Undersecretary of Childhood, who valued the objective of the legislative proposal.
The initiative presented to Congress seeks to establish a tax of 10 percent on expenditures and 6 percent on the prizes obtained and has support from the entire political spectrum.
Mexico.- Deputies of the National Action Party (PAN) from the State of Guanajuato presented to the local Congress a proposal to add a new tax on gambling. The initiative presented to the full Congress seeks to establish a tax of 10 percent on the expenditures made by "individuals or legal entities" to participate in games and lotteries with bets; and 6 percent on the prizes obtained.
According to deputies Jorge Espadas and Víctor Zanella, the intention of incorporating this tax is to prevent dependency on gambling and betting. "It is a tax that seeks to tax the earnings that people have in casinos, for example, as a mechanism to try to somewhat inhibit problematic gambling," explained deputy Jorge Espadas Galván.
For his part, deputy Víctor Zanella Huerta said that the essence of the initiative is a health issue to prevent gambling disorder, which starts as a form of entertainment but becomes a vicious cycle that brings economic losses, isolation, and anxiety.
The initiative to the Revenue Law seeks to generate greater income for the State, which can be allocated to social programs, prevention and treatment of gambling addiction, as well as to strengthen institutions responsible for combating organized crime.
Following the presentation of this proposal, parliamentarians from other political parties showed their support for the project, which augurs an easier and faster treatment, in case it progresses to a vote in Congress. Local deputies, Sergio Contreras Guerrero, from the Green Party, and Alejandro Arias Ávila, from the PRI, both coordinators of their faction in the local Congress, showed their support for the proposal, albeit with reservations.
Sergio Contreras said it is necessary to analyze the results of the opinions that arise in its study methodology and work tables and said he does not see it as a bad measure. "We have to review thoroughly. I am not part of the Finance Committee but we will be informed of the work that is carried out inside the congress for the day it reaches the plenary to have a position on whether it is an initiative that we will have to support or have a reservation to generate a modification or outright not support," he anticipated.
"If we want there to be games and bets in Mexico under what scenarios we want them to occur to be clear that there must be a health policy to follow the pattern of those who already have gambling addiction because not everyone who goes to a gambling place has the disease," he added.
See also: Smoke-free space: they demand compliance with Mexican regulations in casinos in Nuevo León
