Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies is weighing a bill that would tax online betting operators to fund monthly payments for neighbourhood sports clubs. National deputy Natalia Zaracho introduced the proposal, which sets a tiered levy on operators ranging from 5% to 30% depending on domestic investment and the involvement of foreign entities.
Funding for barrio clubs
Zaracho’s bill, known as the “Ley de Clubes de Barrio,” targets Argentina’s network of locally run sports and social institutions, known across the country as clubes de barrio. It would create a “Tarjeta Club,” a monthly payment covering clubs’ operating costs, maintenance, infrastructure and equipment.
The card could also cover other expenses tied to sporting and community activities. The bill would expand Law 27.098, which established Argentina’s derecho de formación deportiva, a mechanism that channels a share of player-transfer revenue to the clubs that trained those players. Under Zaracho’s proposal, more community institutions would qualify for that funding stream, not just clubs that produce transferred professional athletes.
Argentina counts thousands of these clubs nationwide, most run as non-profit member associations funded largely by membership dues and municipal subsidies. That funding base has often failed to keep pace with rising costs, the backdrop against which Zaracho’s bill proposes a dedicated, betting-linked funding line.
Tiered tax structure for operators
The bill sets a general tax of 10% on the net value of player deposits. Operators can cut that rate to 5% by making qualifying investments in Argentina, a structure meant to reward companies that build a domestic footprint.
A 20% levy applies when a foreign party takes part in the bet. That rate rises to 30% when the foreign party operates from a tax haven or another low-tax jurisdiction.
Argentina currently regulates online betting at the provincial level. The Instituto Provincial de Lotería y Casinos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (IPLyC) and the Lotería de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (LOTBA) are among the bodies issuing licences and setting local rates. Zaracho’s bill would add a national tax on top of those provincial charges without replacing them, a design likely to draw pushback from operators already navigating a patchwork of licence fees across jurisdictions.
Policy rationale and regional context
Zaracho represents Buenos Aires for the Patria Grande Front. She entered Congress in 2021 as Argentina’s first “cartonera” legislator, having previously worked as an urban scrap collector, and her legislative record centers on economía popular and social-protection measures.
She frames the tax as a matter of redistribution, moving revenue from a high-margin industry toward institutions that serve a broader social function. In public remarks on the bill, she has stressed the social role these clubs play beyond sport.
“Neighbourhood clubs promote sport, strengthen community networks and help prevent violence, problematic substance use and school dropout. Without neighbourhood clubs there is no community. Without neighbourhood clubs there are no World Cup dreams.” (Zaracho, translated from Spanish)
The approach has precedent in the region. Colombia has earmarked a share of its online gambling tax for the national healthcare system, directing more than $1 billion to hospitals and clinics since the levy took effect, though the policy has faced legal challenges over the tax rate itself. Zaracho’s bill would apply that earmarking principle to sport funding.
The bill still needs committee debate and a floor vote in the Chamber of Deputies before it could move to the Senate. Operators facing the higher foreign-party rates have not yet responded publicly, and no date has been set for committee review. If it advances, the proposal would add Argentina to a growing list of jurisdictions that earmark betting-tax revenue for specific social programmes.
Source: Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies
