Province of Buenos Aires swoops in to protect minors against gambling

The Argentinian province of Buenos Aires has launched a new campaign to prevent gambling ads from reaching minors. 

As first reported by SBC Noticias, the campaign with the slogan “Placing a bet doesn’t pay off” will be visible across all communication platforms currently popular among youths, especially social media as most high school students are “spending at least five hours a day in front of their cell phones”. 

In an interview with local radio station AM 750, Julieta Calmels, Undersecretary of Mental Health, Problematic Consumption and Violence for the province of Buenos Aires, commented: “We are articulating actions to expose a problem that is widespread: the large number of hours that we are exposed to, and above all young people, to screens and games with betting.

“We believe that it is time to take care, prevention measures. Measures are being taken in the two chambers of the legislature. At the same time, this campaign proposes that it does not give the question of betting. Also from Health, it generates a set of care policies.”

Plans to introduce stricter measures against the promotion of gambling to people under the age of 18 have been in the making since May, when the municipal deputies Paola Michielotto and Sergio Siciliano drafted a proposal detailing the approach. 

This was the result of a series of concerns brought forward that youths in Buenos Aires were increasingly being subjected to the promotion of gambling, with Calmels adding that 34% of minors had “some type of experience with betting”. 

The problem became so prominent in the City of Buenos Aires that the Chief of Government, Jorge Macri, was forced to close the city’s registry of gambling licences earlier in June, citing the need to review the age verification procedures of all listed companies. 

The City of Buenos Aires still isn’t issuing gambling licences and it is yet to confirm how long this will continue.