The Lower House would put the treatment of the project on the agenda for next Wednesday, November 27.
Argentina.- The Chamber of Deputies will be convened for next Wednesday, November 27 in a special session to discuss the project aimed at the prevention of gambling addiction, the regulation of gambling and online betting, and advertising restrictions.
The session is driven by the Civic Coalition, Federal Encounter, and Radicals Forever, and seeks to address the projects that received reports after five opposition blocks of the Chamber agreed to unify several initiatives against the industry, to create a joint project. For now, the proposal has been approved by the committees on Addiction Prevention and Drug Control; Social Action and Public Health; Communications and Informatics; Criminal Legislation; and Families, Childhood and Youth.
The next step would be to discuss the proposal in the full Chamber of Deputies, but it should be before November 30, when the three-month recess for legislators begins. That is why several deputies are rushing the process so that it can be debated next Wednesday.
The majority opinion is based on a project by Maximiliano Ferraro from the Civic Coalition, and other initiatives from Union for the Homeland (UxP), Federal Encounter, and the radicals of "Democracy Forever", while Freedom Advances, the PRO, and the UCR presented a minority opinion based on a project by Silvana Giudici.
The main differences between the opinions are related to the prohibition of advertising. Parliamentary sources indicated that the intention is to agree on the points of difference that exist between the two proposals.
In a letter dated November 14, addressed to the heads of the majority blocks of the Chamber of Deputies, from the Association of Argentine State Lotteries (ALEA) explained that the project is "manifestly unconstitutional insofar as it promotes an undue encroachment of the Honorable Congress of the Nation over competencies that from the very dawn of the republic have been considered as not delegated to the provinces of the Nation," the letter states.
For ALEA authorities, evidence in different countries has shown that prohibiting advertising does not decrease illegal gambling. "On the contrary, this restriction can lead to an increase in access to unauthorized platforms, as reducing the visibility of legal and regulated operators, users may access sites that operate outside the legal framework. This not only affects the safety of players but also hampers the efforts of regulatory bodies to control the activity," they explained from the association.
Furthermore, they indicated that "the prohibition of advertising limits the possibility of informing about responsible gaming tools, such as self-exclusion programs and help channels."
On the other hand, they added that along with the prohibition of sponsorships to sports entities, it will cause a "lethal combination". "Not only will the public be deprived of information about the existence of responsible gaming tools and assistance channels, but it will also defund entities that in their genesis seek social development," they wrote in the letter.
They also explained: "A detailed reading of the content of the project shows that the information and evidence previously presented by ALEA have been disregarded. This generates a very deep concern within ALEA as it notes that the project implies an encroachment on the competencies of ALEA members, while, if approved, it will worsen the situation it intends to contain."
Furthermore, the authorities made themselves available to work together with the committees on the text of a project that respects the National Constitution and is effective in limiting minors' access to harmful products.
The Catholic Church sent a public letter to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, in which it calls for urgent treatment of the law on the prevention of gambling addiction. For this, it requested that it be included in the agenda of an already scheduled session or, alternatively, that a special session be convened to advance its debate in the chamber.
