Interactive
Argentina – Province of Misiones grants online betting licence
By Phil - 7 December 2015
The Provincial Institute of Lotteries and Casinos of Misiones (IPLyC) has launched an online sports betting site called MisionBet.
The site went live last week and allows locals to play online with both credits and prizes managed through local lottery outlets. The platform is managed in conjunction with company Sistemas Integrados S.A. and will offer those living in the province of Misiones the possibility of betting on a wide number of sports as well as the chance to play a wide variety of casino games online.
Only locals may take part via the www.misionbet.com.ar website. The presentation for the new sports betting portal took place at the Maitei Posadas Hotel & Resort. Speaking at the presentation President of the IPLyC Eduardo Torres welcomed the launch of the new site saying that online gaming has long been on the IPLyC’s agenda. However, he said that online gaming had met with little support and several challenges over the years and had met with a lukewarm response with land based casino operators when the board had initially approached them with the idea of launching online gaming.
“We did not have the necessary support so we took our concerns to the Association of Lotteries, Pools and Casinos of Argentina (ALEA) and we debated and struggled over the issue for a long time so that all lotteries could assume a role that was right for them,” Mr. Torres said.
Betting via offshore betting sites is still, he pointed out, an issue with more than 7,000 sites which allow locals to make a bet. He went onto say that the state and State Lottery not only had the “the responsibility to regulate the activity of gambling but must also control who are playing, other provinces have avoided that responsibility” he said and that was the reason why the IPLyC had had ultimately withdrawn from the ALEA.
“When we granted a permit for a licence holder to operate we had a problem with the National Lottery which took us and the website to court but they never took measures against the hundreds of illegal gambling sites which take bets in an irresponsible manner,” he said.
Online gaming in Argentina has long been a contentious issue where it is limited and only a very small number of local interactive betting sites are permitted to offer their services and then only in the province where they operate. Only a handful of online gaming sites have been licensed to offer their services to locals.
Generally speaking these sites have faced a number of legal problems and in most cases have been closed soon afterwards.
The first legally established online sports book went online in Argentina in March 2006 in the state of Formosa but its licences was revoked shortly afterwards as was the case with vcapuestas.com.ar which was licensed to operate in the province of Misiones. The site was run and owned by Gibraltar-based online gaming company Victor Chandler which announced in 2006 that it had been awarded a licence to operate online gaming websites in the province.
