Buenos Aires Province began withholding 2% of prizes paid out on online casino games on 8 September, a contribution provincial officials estimate will raise between ARS35 billion and ARS40 billion a month.
The charge took effect through Resolution 1149/2026, signed on 1 September by the Provincial Institute of Lotteries and Casinos (IPLyC). It applies to the seven operators licensed to offer online gambling in the province: Bet365, Betano, Betsson, BetWarrior, BPlay, Sportsbet and Stake.
The contribution covers prizes generated by successive wagers on games whose results are settled immediately, the category that includes virtual slot products. Sports betting is excluded.
Rate fixed inside an existing 1% to 3% band
Provincial authorities say the charge is not a new tax but an existing one now applied to online games. It comes from Article 137 of Law 15.079, passed in 2018, which created a contribution of between 1% and 3% on winnings from immediate-resolution games involving successive bets. The resolution fixes the rate at 2% for eligible online products, the midpoint of the band the law already permits.
The split matters for how fast the number can move. The range sits in primary legislation and the rate sits in a resolution of the gambling authority, so the province can raise or lower the figure inside that band without going back to the legislature.
Players pay, operators collect
The player remains the taxpayer under the system. Licensed operators act as withholding agents and deduct the 2% before the prize reaches the account balance.
Platforms must file weekly sworn declarations listing the prizes subject to the contribution, then transfer the collected amounts in monthly payments. The weekly cadence gives IPLyC a running view of prize volumes across all seven licensees, data the province has not previously had at that frequency.
Municipalities take a share before FOPIS
Law 15.079 routes the money through the province’s existing revenue-sharing formula first. Municipalities take their share, and what remains goes to the Fondo de Progreso e Inclusión Social (FOPIS), which funds health, education and social development programmes, including work on preventing and treating gambling addiction.
Carlos Bianco, Minister of Government for Buenos Aires Province, set out the expected yield.
“According to our estimates, between 35 billion and 40 billion additional pesos would be collected per month,” Bianco said, according to Noticias Argentinas.
Bianco described the mechanism as an instrument already contemplated by provincial legislation, now applied to online games of immediate resolution including digital slot products.
Harm prevention spending
Officials said part of the revenue will maintain and extend policies on gambling-related harm, naming adolescents and other vulnerable groups as the priority. They pointed to the campaign “Viciar con las apuestas no da,” which targets online gambling risks, and to healthcare support for young people with compulsive gambling behaviour delivered through a network of 10 prevention centres and specialist facilities for under-18s.
Prize-side charges tied to harm spending are one of several models regulators are testing this year. Cyprus is weighing a gambling ban for welfare recipients, a restriction on access rather than a levy on winnings.
Biometric checks and 537 blocked sites
The province released the contribution alongside an update on enforcement. Licensed gambling sites in Buenos Aires use facial recognition and identity verification to keep under-18s off legal platforms, and Bianco said Buenos Aires was the first Argentine province to require biometric verification for regulated online gambling.
On the unlicensed side, officials report more than 800 criminal complaints filed over unauthorised gambling activity and 537 illegal gambling sites blocked. The province has also reported more than 100 influencers to Meta for promoting unlicensed platforms.
Two things become visible over the next few months. The first is whether collections land inside the projected ARS35 billion to ARS40 billion range, which the weekly declarations will show within weeks rather than quarters. The second is whether players move toward the unlicensed sites the province is already blocking, the argument operators raise against every charge levied on winnings. Article 137 leaves room to take the rate to 3% without new legislation, and the pressure is regional: Brazil is preparing a decree to restrict its own betting market.
Source: Provincial Institute of Lotteries and Casinos
