Buenos Aires Province Seeks to Consolidate Bills to Prevent Underage Betting

The Committee on Gambling, Lotteries and Prevention of Gambling Addiction of the Chamber of Deputies of Buenos Aires Province will be reactivated as legislators study several proposals to combat underage gambling and tackle the problem of gambling addiction.

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This will be the second committee meeting of the year on Wednesday, September 16. The meeting will be devoted to bills concerning the prevention of problem gambling, and it will aim to progress the conversation that has been scattered amongst various bills.

Lawmakers Aim to Combine Multiple Proposals

The meeting will feature the legislators who wrote the bills to be discussed. Their involvement is to be included as a means of them giving an overview of their own projects and encouraging cross-committee discussion.

The committee’s invitation states that the meeting will serve to “debate the bills related to the prevention of problem gambling.” It also aims to have the authors “present the scope of their respective projects and promote a joint exchange.”

In the last two years, more than 50 bills on online gaming have been introduced within the province of Buenos Aires. But many have been stripped of parliamentary status due to the fact that they have never been formally debated. The committee now wants to utilize this process to streamline various initiatives into one, which could ultimately be brought to the legislative chamber.

Proposals Focus on Awareness and Advertising

Some of the proposals likely to be put forward include strategies to raise awareness of the dangers of online gambling. A suggestion is to launch an awareness campaign and a telephone hotline to help with gambling issues.

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Other proposals would ban advertising of any type that is geared towards minors. Measures are also being taken to promote the implementation of training initiatives organised by provincial lottery and casino bodies on the “risks of digital betting”, the aim being to raise awareness of potentially harmful gambling behaviour.

These are all proposals that show a larger emphasis on prevention and not just enforcement. The committee’s deliberations could help decide what steps can be merged to form a single bill on minors and problem gambling.

Local Restrictions Also Under Consideration

The committee also has programs on its agenda to honor various policies that seek to address the impact of problematic gambling. For instance, the Castelli City Council passed an ordinance that would attempt to prevent access to betting sites on Wi-Fi at schools and government buildings.

The proposal is a response to the heightened focus on the surroundings where minors can access online betting solutions. Along with advertising restrictions, local authorities are looking at other measures such as targeting connectivity in schools and public institutions with the goal of preventing another occurrence.

The following meeting on 16 September may thus be a significant milestone in the process of gathering the dispersed legislative measures in Buenos Aires Province around underage betting. If the proposals can be merged into a single piece of legislation, the final bill may offer a more comprehensive solution to the prevention of problem gambling and reduce minors’ exposure to online betting.

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Source: SBC Noticias