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A daily podcast delving into the biggest stories of the day throughout the sports betting and igaming sector.
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The gaming industry is once again in the spotlight across multiple jurisdictions that are looking to restrict advertising. Today, the iGaming Daily podcast examines the similar and contrasting regulatory developments of Portugal and Argentina, as well as some new developments in Chile. In Portugal, Parliament surprises observers by allowing an appeal by Libre to reopen discussions on gambling advertising controls. A debate that has divided
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political ranks of South bento. Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, can senators settle on terms to apply a federal bill on problem gambling protections long sought by Argentine provinces and authorities? We'll discuss this today in iGaming Daily. I'm Fernando Nott, media manager for SBC and your host for today and I am joined by Ted Memur, editor at large for SBC. Ted, how are you today? Very well, Fernando. Hopefully as well.
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Yeah, all good. All good. And happy to have also Lucia Gando, SVC Noticias Editor with us. Lu, how are you today? Hello, guys. Hi Fer. Always a pleasure to be here and talk about what's going on in Latin America. Yeah, even though it might feel like we are doing repeating an episode from the past. It's actually not. It's just that governments like to trip with the same stone. I don't know if that's a phrase in English, but
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Before we start with the news about Portugal, Argentina and Chile, let me ask you a question guys. Heading to G2E, OptiMove is hosting an exclusive sweepstakes industry breakfast. Get market insights and hear from some of the top names in the industry. Find out more on this can't miss event in the description of this episode. Big shout out to OptiMove for
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uh this breakfast. Sweepstakes of course a hot topic in the US and looking forward to see what the guys have to say even though we have discussed a lot about it on iGamingDaily so after this episode you may feel free to just go ahead and search OptiMove on our iGamingDaily search bar and you will find plenty of information and plenty of insights from the guys at OptiMove but now let's move on to Portugal
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Ted, what has triggered Portugal to reopen its advertising? That's how you say it, debate. So thanks Fernando. On Friday, the parliament of Sambeta received proposals of Livre, who are very small house in Portuguese politics, and they are known as the college spartsy. And in that proposal, they accepted five
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requests and one of them was to have a review on the application of new controls or stricter controls on gambling advertising. And then the other request that was initially accepted but later declined was a review on where scratch cards can be sold. Now the surprise was that it accepted it from Leveray who as I mentioned are one of the smaller houses and it didn't come from the Socialist Party but it just reopened this debate in
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Portugal about its gambling law. And later, by Monday, the Socialist Party were in government. They attached a non-binding resolution that with discussions of advertising, they'd begin read a base on how on Portugal's modernization of its gambling laws and review of gambling since 2015, when it legislated for online gambling and applied a new licensing regime.
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And who are Lever? You just mentioned they are not like majority force, but who are they? Can you provide some more context and why are they calling for stricter gambling controls? Well, Lever are small. They carry a very good left-wing mandate, but they are different to the Green Party who are big in Portugal. And I think what you have to understand about Portuguese are the political blocs within the government. very much like Brazil, you have a conservative bloc.
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You have a left-wing block and you have a centrist block. Levera are very much part of the far, far left of the left-wing block. Who have been calling for a number of years for strict measures, including a blanket ban on gambling advertising. And they really want to see kind of a tone down on football's relationship with betting. It seems like it's always a political battle with this.
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this issue because this year Portugal has elections so I think they are using the industry to fight their internal battles more than try to help society. could well be the case. I'm not surprised about that. And again in European politics what we tend to see is that the mandate is coming very early.
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and you pick the battles that you want to choose on and what you want to present to your grassroots and your delegates. Yeah, definitely looks like um politicians usually turn to gambling because of course the industry tends to have a bad reputation, it's evil industry and so anyone that goes against it is defending the people or something like that.
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But speaking of battles or confrontations in politics, how has the opposition reacted to Libre's proposal? It's mixed bag. I think where Portugal has an advantage over other European countries is that it hasn't really touched its regulations since 2015. So it's been able to see how gambling regulation has played out across countries like Spain, the Netherlands, other EU nations.
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in terms of very strict advertising laws being applied, encroachment by the black market, and also what regulations actually work and what is the true protection of the consumer. Of course, every time that um gambling advertising gets frowned upon or that politicians look into gambling advertising and say, we need to restrict this, the industry usually stands
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in a position that says, why are you looking at me where you have multiple other industries that may have harmful impacts on some groups in society and why are you just looking at me? So is this review actually just focused on gambling or does it have, is it more broad? I think that's a good point to raise because as you mentioned,
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What we've seen in other gambling reviews, especially in Europe, is that they tend to kind of spread out. The dynamic isn't just about gaming, but it's about consumer protections, redress, advertising. Also, now we're kind of seeing much more about kind of the overall data rights and how people are engaged with an industry. And I think that will probably apply to how Portugal would choose to review. If it does so, it's gambling act, which...
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hasn't been touched since 2015. They were one of the first countries to re-review their gaming policies very early before the 2020s. Yeah, of course I don't have the opportunity to watch much Portuguese TV, but I can speak from my experience in Argentina, which is I do see a lot of gaming advertising, but I do see a lot of other industries also advertising and also flooding your screen.
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over and over again. But still, they don't get the same attention as gaming does. So uh it's curious to see why this happens and what the industry needs to do to actually prevent that from happening and to defend itself. Yes, and also we forget the benefits that the industry does bring to the markets, such as Portugal.
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We had the SBC Summit two weeks ago and we know it generated a lot of income from the industry just for one event, imagine in the everyday life. we know that governments can benefit from it and a regulated market is always good for the society in general. Yeah, absolutely. I think that actually governments do see that when it comes to hosting an event like SBC Summit, because
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uh We had uh the registration desk at the airport actually, so it's not like we're outcasts something like that. It's actually working together with the government to actually uh bring more people into Lisbon, which of course generates a lot of movement in tourism, in restaurants, course hotels and all that. it's definitely...
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There's a lot of benefits that these political parties don't mention when they say, hey, gaming is bad, gaming needs to be restricted. of course, gaming advertising is in like the main focus of this. But where does Portugal need to actually modernize its framework, its regulatory framework? And could this be an opportunity for stakeholders? What do they need to do? How do they have to participate and relate to the government to
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and lawmakers to actually get a good outcome out of this. So feedback from the market and especially with regards to Portugal is that, yes, as stands, Portugal has got two gambling laws, one for land-based, one for online. So there's kind of a structural divide in there.
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I think that if they're looking to kind of review their gambling laws, that's where they start actually how do you apply a whole federal bill onto Portuguese gambling for online, for land-based and kind of apply kind of centralized kind of consumer protections across the board, Not treat kind of both markets differently in both consumer bases in different, let's say different verticals.
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That would be kind of the hardest challenge for any review. I think as stands, Salvento's divided in what approach to take to gambling advertising. As we've seen, what happened to the Portuguese market is when they were re-regulated in 2015 and they applied a 25 % tax, lot of Western operators departed the market. However, in the years since,
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corresponding to other European uh markets regulating, the international operators have returned to market. So it is starting to kind of balance that between domestic players and foreign incumbents. uh Is it time for review? Yes. I think that Portugal will have kind of more sense in what path it takes with advertising. I don't see it as an all out ban. just think that that's...
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though it just happens that A Party to the Extremes has proposed very strict measures. And of course we will follow these developments very closely. For that you may need to go ahead and enter any of the SVC media websites and subscribe to all newsletters because this touches a lot of different topics so it may be covered in different
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website so if you want to keep up to date with what happens in Portugal make sure you are subscribed to SBC News newsletter but also to the other newsletters across of the of the media network for SBC right now we're gonna do a very quick commercial break but we'll be right back to discuss what happened in Latin America and what will happen in the next few days and we are back with more iGaming Daily we had
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discussed already what is happening in Portugal with gambling advertising, but of course, uh it's definitely not the only country to look into restricting gambling advertising as Argentina seems to be making a move on an already partially approved bill. Why don't you take us through that, Lu? Yes. Well, as to this week in Argentina, the Senate is now debating a bill to address problem gambling and regulate online betting.
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The project already passed the lower house last year, but it hasn't been discussed ever since. We didn't expect it was going to be discussed this year, but it is. So we know that Argentina doesn't have a national regulation and this would be the first one to be applied nationwide. The goal is to ban advertising in sports. That's the most controversial point. um
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the advertising ban would apply to all media, social networks, and even in team shirts and stadiums. So it's going to be huge. um And on the other side, it also requires a biometric controls to block miners, which is one of the main concerns right now in the country. And it's the main uh argument that People Against the Industry is using.
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because we know that sports betting and iGaming have grown among teenagers. So if it is approved, football clubs like River Plate, Boca Juniors, Racing Club or even the national team and the AFA would have to drop their betting sponsors. Yeah, a lot of sponsors for the Argentina national team, world champions, whoo-hoo. Just in case anyone forgot.
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Um, actually on the SVC summit floor, lot of companies from the gaming industry showcasing that they are proud partners of the Argentine national team. Something that may change if this case, if this bill actually gets approved. there any kind of room for bargaining in terms of, look, you've already had, you've got two, actually nothing. got three kind of, um, frameworks in, know, your cordoba.
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provinces, BA, and the executive city BA. Do you think there's any kind of bargaining on the advertising? I mean, I think it's a very complex situation right now because um the national government has been doing like um cutting down expense ever since it took office. The Javier Millet administration has been cutting down on expense. And that means that they have cut down the
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funds they uh share with the provinces. So provinces need to generate cash for themselves. And one of the things and the industries that generates cash exclusively from the industries for the provinces is the gaming industry. Because uh under the constitution, the regulation for all gaming is a faculty of each province. Like there's no...
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like Lou said, regulation for the industry. And there can't be federal regulation for the industry because the Constitution says it's uh a thing that the provinces need to see. it's going to be very interesting to see how the lawmakers that answer to each governor um will react and will em act on the Senate um when discussing this bill because of course they need
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money and the gaming industry is generating money for them. So I'm not so sure this is actually going to go through, but of course I've made a lot of wrong forecasts in the past on this podcast. So if you... um So let's just hashtag wait and see where this goes. But I don't think the governors of the provinces will support this because they also have been...
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not supportive of Javier Millet's administration, even though this is not coming from Millet himself, but um being in a federal proposal, like a proposal to apply uh to the country as a whole, um I don't think this is going to have much support, at least not from the provinces. But Lu, why don't you very briefly um break down what the general perception
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of the gaming industry is in Argentina right now so we can better understand where this is coming from. Well, it's mixed. Of course, the industry is very against it, but in companies invest a lot in football sponsorship media. So they are very visible. That is true that society can see them. um
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We know that this investment is always good for sports as it means more development, commercial opportunities, and therefore stronger teams and international presence. But there is a growing concern in society about uh problem gambling, minors betting, and aggressive advertising. So that's why the debate in the Congress is so important right now, and it generates a lot of controversial points of view.
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Moving across the Andes mountains, Chile has also targeted the gaming industry as the Supreme Court has just ruled against unlicensed iGaming companies and ordered internet service providers to block them in the country. That's right. oh Yesterday, well, at the beginning of the week, Chile's Supreme Court has now ordered internet providers in the country to fully block unlicensed betting sites. uh
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We have to say that these very well-known companies like Betano, Cool Bet, Betzone, whatever, both in Chile and internationally, they don't have licenses right now in the country because there is no regulation. Operators argue that under the current legal framework, it's not actually illegal neither. So this ruling will have a major impact on Chile's market and could really harm the industry.
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I think it's really important to kind of run the line what Luthier said. And I think to a specific extent, kind of town playing just how scheme Chile Statue is in terms of gambling law. If you actually look at its legal boundaries at the moment, there is no mention whatsoever about online gambling. It's gambling statue is about two paragraphs. And then it's
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I, you know, just looking at it from kind of Western eyes, there's a lot of hurdles that actually has to jump before it can finalize kind of a gambling law. I think I had kind of good progress in 2023 as in, in terms of kind of defining a tax framework and kind of the criminal kind of the, the legislative remit in terms of the kind of criminality gambling, but it's really stalled since then. Uh, there's a lot of kind of political interplays happening in that market. Um, it's, it's a shame. It's a shame.
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But it just, I don't see it kind of having that same legal kind of platform that you've seen in Colombia or Brazil. And the other problem here is just how powerful kind of the municipal businesses or municipal casinos are in shaping that legislation. Yeah, of course. There's a lot of players uh in Chile making or lobbying against, uh, I game regulation for some time. Some say, Hey, we just want.
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like the proper framework to be elaborated before we regulate on this, but let me doubt about that. And of course, there's like Lucid when discussing Portugal, elections and politics play a big role in this and Chile has a presidential election in November as well. So that's probably gonna be a bit of a hurdle for any regulation whatsoever to make any progress.
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But ah this is not the first time actually a decision like this happens in Chile, is it? No, it's not. ah But this particular decision came after the state operator Loteria de Concepción filled legal action. uh Similar rulings already happened in 2023, but the enforcement was limited. It didn't have that much impact. their Chile regulator uh banned
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all the advertisement in football. But now the court is very clear, only state lotteries, licensed casinos can operate and it's mandatory for internet companies to block all the gaming sites. So the government is also pushing a bill to regulate the market. But eh let's wait and see. And Ted, to wrap this episode up.
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How do you assess these types of developments happening all over in Latin America? And how can the industry prevent further restrictions from being enforced? don't think the industry is preventing anything. At that kind of political level, it really comes down to who those actors are. Does the market really want to push itself towards legalization, or does it just want to remain in the gray? um
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you've got to kind of take the spot on market by market basis. um Again, kind of just reading into Chile, I think there was kind of structural issues right away with that. And a lot of it was about how old the articles were and how kind of limited they were and even defining gambling in itself ah and how that market has grown within kind of Chile. um I think again,
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Like many markets in Latin America, think 2026 is going to be kind of a point of inflection for them, know, what direction they choose or is it just going to be stalling till the end of the decade? So could it be the end of the gaming industry? No, I'm just kidding.
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Yeah, like we were keeping like this. I miss you guys too much. Just kidding. We're going to be paying a lot of attention to what happens in Chile, Argentina, and Portugal as well of any other countries that decide to go on a change for regulation in gaming. So if you want to keep up to date, make sure you follow iGamingDaily on your preferred social podcasting platform.
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Also subscribe to all SVC media outlets. Thank you very much, Lucia Gando, Ted Bemir. Thank you very much, James Ross for producing this episode and Fernando Nott and to our listeners out there. We'll see you in the next one.