Buenos Aires Hands Out Seven Online Gaming Licenses

Buenos Aires’ Provincial Institute of Lotteries and Casinos president has confirmed that seven online gambling licenses have been awarded to operators such as Betsson, William Hill and Playtech.

On 31st of December 2020, it was announced that licenses were granted to Argenbingo which has partnered up with William Hill, Pasteko whose partner is bet365, Hotel Casino Tandill whose partner is Playtech, Boldt/888 Holdings, Atlantic de Juegos/Flutter Entertainment, Binbaires/Intralot and Casino de Victoria/Betsson.

Operators’ Obligations

All of the licensed operators will have to pay a single fixed fee of $768,000, while additional AR$26m is required at the moment of signing the agreement which formalizes the granting of the license, while the remaining money should be paid later.

This will also be a subject to a 25% gross revenue tax. The operators must, within ten days of gaining a license, present the compliance guarantee by the regulator to make sure that they will perform all of the necessary duties to set out in provincial regulations.

The licenses may only be awarded in cases in which operations will be carried out by a human or a legal person with an address in the Buenos Aires province.

A Long Process

Licenses for foreign operators may be granted under a temporary union of companies, in which case a local company or person has at least a 15% stake in the operation.

These seven licenses were approved in January 2020. Casino de Victoria license has been subsequently awarded after Paddy Power Betfair and Bingo Pilar withdrew their license application.

The licensing process in Argentina’s capital was officially launched in June 2019. The criteria for selection included industry experience, financial capacity and data security.

However, it took over a year before the licenses were confirmed after the election of provincial governor Axel Kickoff.

Buenos Aires has developed its own regulatory framework that lets operators and land-based businesses apply for a license to operate in the capital of Argentina.

The annual license fee for this is $100,000, while the $30,000 license processing fee also applies, as well as a 10% gross revenue tax.

Source:

“Buenos Aires Province awards seven online gaming licenses”, yogonet.com ,January 5th, 2020.