Mendoza Bill Targets Youth Over-Indebtedness and Online Gambling Risks

In Mendoza, Argentina, a new Bill is being presented to solve the financial dangers young people are exposed to due to increased access to digital wallets and online credit and gambling services. The proposal, which was presented by provincial lawmaker Germán Gómez, is aimed at promoting financial education among secondary school students and at avoiding over-indebtedness before they come into contact with the formal credit system.

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The program is taking place as worries grow regarding the linkage between early financial access to digital instruments and online gambling. Gómez warned that teenagers “are growing up within a financial system that they are not taught to understand.”

Growing Financial Risks Among Young People

The bill uses a number of recent indicators to emphasize the extent of the problem. According to a study by the Center for Argentine Political Economy (CEPA) that took into account data from the Central Bank as of May of 2026, 29.6% of families who accessed digital wallets were in payment default.

The delinquency rate for young people aged 18-21 and who are active in the credit program of the Province of microcredit loans of Banco Provincia was 39.3% in April 2026. This was nearly double the 19.7% one year ago. The report also concluded that 92% of these young borrowers were not in formal employment, thus some were getting into debt before even receiving their first formal wage.

One of the other issues raised by the proposal is online gambling. A survey of over 11,000 individuals (aged 13 to 18) conducted by the Argentine Red Cross revealed that 16% of respondents had wagered at least once. Of those who gambled, one in eight admitted to becoming unpaid, and 83% of bettors used digital wallets for their gambling.

Education as a Prevention Tool

However, this isn’t about taking credit away from those who need it; this is about awareness, says Gómez, which is why the objective is not to take it away. “The problem is not credit. Credit is legitimate. The problem is taking it blindly, without knowing how much you will end up paying or whether you will be able to pay it,” he stated.

He also mentioned that there was an information gap between the financial platform and the young users. The platform has a system that analyzes the user, and on the other side there is a kid who has nothing, Gómez said, stating a plan to focus on practical education instead of just financial tools.

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Proposed Provincial Education Program

The bill aims to create the Provincial Program for Education on Digital Credit and Prevention of Youth Over-Indebtedness, to be implemented in all public and private secondary schools of Mendoza.

The program would educate students so that they know the interest rate, the number of years they will be paying for the loan and the installment plan, and how to calculate the total amount they will pay for the loan. It would also discuss marketing tactics that may be able to lead to poor financial choices and the risk of using credit to gamble online.

Other topics are suggested, including the risk of average new loan amount to pay off old loans, rights of consumers, complaints, personal budgeting, and evaluating the capacity to repay. The program also would include personal data protection, application permissions, scams and identity theft.

Role of Mendoza’s Education Authority

According to the plan, the General Directorate of Schools (DGE) will be responsible for the implementation of the program and, in this regard, would have to decide whether it should be integrated into education or provided as an educational subject.

It’s part of a wider conversation in Argentina on the impact of digital finance and online gambling on young people. Mendoza’s proposal aims to provide students with tangible resources before they enter the full credit and digital gambling landscape of the country without understanding financial literacy and awareness of the risks involved.

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Source: SBC Noticias