City of Buenos Aires launches egaming and sports betting regime
City and province will operate as separate jurisdictions
Legislators in the City of Buenos Aires have approved a resolution which will give the city its own egaming and sports betting regulatory regime, independent of the wider Buenos Aires province.
A resolution passed this week authorises the city to license and regulate online gambling and sports betting, placing regulatory authority in the hands of the City of Buenos Aires lottery and gaming authority (LOTBA S.E.).
A minimum of three licences for online gambling and betting will be issued, subject to a successful tender process, with LOTBA officials confirming this number could rise to 10 licences. All licences will be valid for a period of five years and can be renewed for the same period, with no restrictions on local or international operators entering the market.
Operators licenced in the city will be liable for a 25% tax rate on the gross gaming revenues, mirroring the tax rate being used at a provincial level. Initial estimates say the licenced market could generate as much as ARS $500m (£8.9m) annually.
Earlier this year, the province of Buenos Aires regulated egaming and sports betting, launching a licensing process for up to seven licenced operators. An informal agreement to coordinate on egaming and sports betting regulatory issues exists between the city and province, but no specific details have been given on implementation.
Eduardo Morales Hermo, analyst at Ficom Leisure, said the city and province will likely align their regulatory models, offering a joint jurisdictional agreement with a POC model, where players playing on any BA-licensed website have with a geospecific unique ID, which will be used to establish their taxation residence.
Morales Hermo said work was underway for Argentina’s 22 provinces to adopt similar POC tax and regulatory regimes.
Formal terms of the tender process have yet to be published, but it is believed these could mirror those being used at a provincial level.
Argentina’s 22 provinces could soon follow Buenos Aires example and regulate egaming and sports betting