Federico Fagioli, a Fuerza Patria senator in the Buenos Aires Province Senate, has filed a bill for a Buenos Aires online gambling ban. Named the “Lula Law” after Brazil’s federal betting ban, it would repeal the online gambling chapter of Provincial Law 15,079 and leave lotteries, quinielas and draws as the only authorised products.
The ban would cover online slots, roulette, blackjack and poker as well as online betting, according to iGamingToday. Buenos Aires Province licensed online operators under Chapter VIII of Law 15,079, which the bill would replace with the prohibition.
What the Buenos Aires online gambling ban would require
Licensed operators would have to stop accepting new deposits, including transfers used to fund gambling, and block new gaming sessions. All online gambling advertising, promotions, bonuses and sponsorship would be banned, whether direct or indirect.
Operators would refund the full balance of every player account. Each would file individual reports with the Provincial Institute of Lotteries and Casinos (IPLyC) listing outstanding prizes, pending bets and account balances. The IPLyC would then block websites, apps, social media profiles and other content that offer or facilitate online gambling, so that services cannot restart.
In the bill’s rationale, Fagioli argued that mobile and internet access had removed the traditional barriers to gambling. He added that the growth of online platforms had created new problems for the province’s control and prevention tools.
The Brazilian model
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Provisional Measure (MP) 1.394/2026 on 25 September, banning the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazil, online and in person, according to the government’s explanatory memorandum. Lotteries authorised by law are excluded. Platforms went offline at midnight on 6 October and refunds of player balances ran from 9 to 14 October, Correio da Manhã reported.
The measure followed Lula’s call for an online betting ban in April. Fagioli’s bill copies its sequence: a deposit freeze, an advertising ban, full refunds and site blocking.
A rival bill in the Chamber of Deputies
Facundo Tignanelli, head of the Peronist bloc in the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies, and Micaela Olivetto, who chairs the chamber’s special committee on gambling, lotteries and addiction prevention, filed a separate bill that tightens online rules without banning the activity, Letra P reported on 1 October.
It would require facial verification at every login, log players out after 60 minutes and block accounts after 3 logins in a day. Bonuses and free bets would be banned, adverts would carry the warning “Apostar no es un juego” (betting is not a game), and a licence would be revoked if a minor places a bet. The bill also creates a special prosecutor’s office for illegal betting, allows sites to be blocked within 6 hours and limits new licences to companies with 100% Argentine capital.
Big interests are being touched, it is a fight that needs to be fought and we are going to carry it through.
Facundo Tignanelli, Head of the Peronist bloc, Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies, to Letra P (translated from Spanish)
Tignanelli supports a ban in principle but has said it would require national legislation, according to iGamingToday. Governor Axel Kicillof separately introduced a 2% tax on online gambling prizes by decree in early September, according to Letra P.
Next steps
Fagioli’s bill must pass committee review and votes in both chambers of the provincial legislature before any restriction takes effect. Committee work on the Tignanelli and Olivetto bill was due to start in October, with the aim of a floor vote before the end of 2026, Letra P reported.
In Brazil, existing federal betting authorisations lapse on 25 October, and Supreme Federal Court Justice Luiz Fux is expected to rule on suspending the betting ban after that day’s presidential runoff. More regulatory news from the region is on TGE’s LatAm page.
Source: iGamingToday
