The two proposals aimed at regulating the activity received favorable opinions in committees and will now have to be debated in the Chamber of Deputies. The regulation could be analyzed in today's session, Thursday, November 28.
Argentina.- The deputies from San Juan, members of the Legislation and Constitutional Affairs (LAC) and Health and Disability committees, met jointly to discuss the files no. 1981 and no. 1982 regarding the regulation of online gaming in the province of San Juan. On this occasion, they issued a favorable report.
The meeting was held in the meeting room on the second floor of the Annex building of the Legislature and was chaired by the presidents of the committees, deputies Juan de la Cruz Córdoba and Gustavo Núñez, respectively.
During the meeting, they reviewed the text of the articles that make up the proposed Law to make the final adjustments and issue the corresponding report. Now, with the articles ready, the legislative ruling party aims to have the regulation sanctioned in the next session, which will take place today.
Both projects were presented almost simultaneously in the Deputies. The first was by Aranda, which has an entry date of July 24; while the one from the ruling party, a message from the Executive with the signature of the governor, Marcelo Orrego, was presented a day later. Both have practically the same name: the first “Regulation of online gambling” and the one from the ruling party “Regulation of online gaming in the province of San Juan”.
As their names indicate, neither aims to prohibit the activity, but to control it. What they do have in common is that there is a law that controls online betting and that prosecutes, criminally, all those platforms that are not registered and legalized. But, in addition, a key point is that both aim against gambling addiction and prevent minors from accessing online gaming.
The one who confirmed that the goal of the ruling party is for the law to be approved in the next session was the deputy Juan de la Cruz Córdoba, who also presides over the Legislation and Constitutional Affairs committee. This body is also made up of deputies from other political sectors, such as Aranda, from the Renewal Front; Luis Rueda, from the bloquismo and Fernando Patinella, from Liberty Advances. The three agreed to move forward so that there is a committee report and did not rule out that the project could be discussed next Thursday. The statements are significant, as they come from deputies who are not from the ruling party, but who have been supporting with their votes, necessary for there to be a legislative majority to sanction projects.
See also: The CAS of San Juan requested that the bill to regulate online gaming in the province be advanced
Regarding the differences between the projects, from the ruling party and from Aranda, the latter explained that “they are basically similar or only differ in legislative technique”, that is, in how the text of the project is presented. Although they do have a key point that must be defined in committee. Aranda's text stipulates that, for a player to start betting, they must register on the enabled virtual platforms providing information about their name and document, but, in addition, it also requires the use of a “secure data authentication method of biometrics”. This means that access must be made with fingerprints, facial scans, or voice recognition. The project from the ruling party does not establish this requirement textually in the norm, but, according to official sources, it is planned in the regulation of the law, a procedure that will be in charge of the Social Action Fund. Whether this step will be reflected in the text or not, will come out of the agreement between the deputies.
On the other hand, the sources indicated that the CAS has been working for several months on the implementation of digital betting, so it is expected that there will be no delays after the law is sanctioned and published in the Official Gazette. Indeed, some estimate that it will be implemented before the end of the year.
According to what deputy Córdoba detailed, in San Juan there are more than 150 online gaming sites that are not authorized, "it is not known who the owners are, if they pay what the bettors win, not to mention that they lend themselves to minors playing".
