Codere one step closer to online Buenos Aires licence after LOTBA approval

Codere has hailed an “important milestone” in its quest for an online gambling licence in the City of Buenos Aires.

The Spanish operator’s programme for the implementation of the platform for online games has been approved by the Argentine capital’s government via LOTBA, the administrative body responsible for gambling legislation.

Codere is the first operator to win approval from LOTBA and is targeting further Latam expansion to build on its existing presence in Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay and Panama.

The authorisation process for online gambling opened in the City of Buenos Aires on 20 February. Codere, led by its regional team in Argentina, presented its implementation programme to LOTBA at the start of May after working through the Covid-19 crisis.

Gambling in Argentina is currently a patchwork of regulation at city and provincial level as no national framework for gambling regulation currently exists.

Codere believes the City of Buenos Aires possesses the greatest potential in the country, where legislation is different to the neighbouring Province of Buenos Aires.

Codere is currently the largest operator of gaming rooms in the Province of Buenos Aires, with a portfolio of 13 rooms and more than 6,850 gaming machines.

Bernardo Chena, regional manager of Codere Latin America, said: “This milestone shows the strength of the group, the quality of its offer and the viability of Codere’s online expansion project in Latin America.”

The next step for Codere is to produce, develop and integrate certain components of the platform to allow for the commercialisation and distribution of the online games included in the application.

Codere last month reported a first-half loss of €178m for 2020.