How to get a gambling licence in Argentina: fees and steps

Decreto 95/2018 put Lotería Nacional S.E. into liquidation and repealed the national gambling-organiser laws, recording that gambling is not a function of the national State. What remains federal is criminal law, tax and anti-money laundering.

• Each jurisdiction's authorisation covers its own territory. Operating without the competent jurisdiction's authorisation is a crime with three to six years in prison (Código Penal art. 301 bis).
• So brands are licensed jurisdiction by jurisdiction: ALEA's list shows bplay.bet.ar under eight jurisdictions, mostly on separate sub-domains.
• The City of Buenos Aires took over full competence from the national lottery on 1 July 2017 and is a separate jurisdiction from Buenos Aires Province.
• Supplier licences, game certification, player limits and complaint rules are set by the jurisdiction; federally, ARCA only certifies the providers of the systems that transmit operating data to it.

Laws that apply

• Constitución Nacional arts. 121 and 129: provinces keep every power not delegated; the City of Buenos Aires is autonomous
• Decreto 95/2018: Lotería Nacional S.E. in liquidation; Ley 18.226, Ley 25.295 and Decretos 588/1998 and 838/1998 repealed
• Código Penal art. 301 bis (added by Ley 27.346): three to six years for gambling without the competent jurisdiction’s authorisation
• Ley 27.346 Título III, Decreto 293/2022 and RG AFIP 5228/2022 (amended by RG 5386/2023 and RG ARCA 5791/2025): online-bets tax and Registro de Control Online
• Ley 25.246 and UIF Resolución 194/2023 (which repealed Res. UIF 199/2011): anti-money laundering
• Resolución 446/2025, Annex replaced by Resolución 271/2026: warning and +18 on every gambling advertisement

ALEA, the association of the provincial lotteries and regulators, lists one body per jurisdiction and, on a separate page, the authorised online sites by jurisdiction: 68 site URLs in 19 jurisdictions in our capture of 6 October 2026, about 40 distinct sites. It is an industry list, not a government register: it prints no holder and no licence number.

None of these can be done before the licence: each starts from it.

• ARCA's Registro de Control Online del Sistema de Apuestas: needs a current licence from the jurisdiction where the game is run; the regulator validates it through an ARCA service and ARCA decides within 60 calendar days (RG 5228 art. 16, as replaced by RG 5791/2025). Registration sets the online-bets tax rate.
• UIF: the operator registers as an anti-money-laundering reporting party in the month it starts activity and appoints a titular and an alternate compliance officer, both domiciled in Argentina (Res. UIF 50/2011; Res. UIF 194/2023 art. 11).
• .bet.ar domain: NIC Argentina opens the zone to a holder on a jurisdiction's register of online operators, with a CUIT and Clave Fiscal; ARS 64,000 per name a year (Res. SLyT 5/2024).
• Company law: a foreign company may act through a registered branch (Ley 19.550 art. 118); a sociedad anónima needs ARS 30,000,000 of capital. A wholly foreign operator cannot in practice obtain a licence alone: it must form a Unión Transitoria with a national Argentine entity, and in Buenos Aires Province, Córdoba and Santa Fe the Argentine partner must hold at least 15% relative to the foreign party (Ley 15.079 art. 151; Ley 10.793 art. 5). Entry is closed in the City of Buenos Aires (call closed 24 June 2024, RESDI-2024-16) and capped in Mendoza (seven licences, all allocated; Ley 9.267 art. 6).

The online-bets tax falls on the bettor, on the net value of each deposit, and the operator collects it. Its rate turns on residence, registration and foreign involvement, not on the province that licensed the site.

• A foreign party takes part when it runs the game, is the sole supplier of software, hosting or data storage to the resident operator, or receives more than 60% of its profits (art. 6).
• The investment test: capital invested above ARS 200,000,000 and a 20% rise in permanent full-time payroll with at least 20 employees, or 30 for employers registering after the decree took force (art. 5).
• Slot-machine bets: 0.95% of each bet (Decreto 179/2017).
• Income tax: 41.5% on gambling income, for companies and individuals alike (Ganancias art. 73).
• Returns: fortnightly on form F.2067, due on the 21st and the 6th (RG 5228 arts. 5-6).

• UIF Res. 194/2023 requires a risk self-assessment, customer due diligence from the moment an online client enters the site, monthly and annual reports, suspicious-transaction reports within 24 hours of the conclusion, 10-year records and an independent review every two years. Fines run from 15 to 2,500 modules (ARS 812,100 to ARS 135,350,000).
• Every gambling advertisement, in any medium, must carry 'EL JUGAR COMPULSIVAMENTE ES PERJUDICIAL PARA LA SALUD' and '+18', at least 10% of its height for the whole piece (Res. 446/2025, Annex replaced by Res. 271/2026). TV and radio gambling ads also need prior authorisation (Ley 26.522 art. 81 m). Everything else is the jurisdiction's.
• Unlicensed sites still reach Argentine players. Courts order them blocked and ENACOM passes the orders to internet providers; its 2026 list names Polymarket and 1win AR.

Bill CD-26/24 passed the Chamber of Deputies on 27 November 2024 and has no Senate committee opinion. Its committee text would ban gambling advertising and sponsorship, welcome bonuses and credit cards, and create a national self-exclusion register. It is not law.

The licence comes first and from the jurisdiction. These steps apply whichever jurisdiction issued it.

1. 01

   Get licensed by the jurisdiction

   Jurisdiction

   Apply to the body of the province or City where you will take bets (table above). Its law sets the licence, fees, term and technical rules.

2. 02

   Register with the UIF

   AML

   Register as a reporting party in the month activity starts and appoint the two compliance officers, both domiciled in Argentina.

3. 03

   Join ARCA’s Registro de Control Online

   Tax

   With a Clave Fiscal of level 3 or more, file the application; the regulator validates the licence and the domains through ARCA, and ARCA decides within 60 calendar days.

4. 04

   Register the .bet.ar name

   Domain

   Ask NIC Argentina to open the .bet.ar zone with the certificate of inscription on the jurisdiction’s register, then register the name: ARS 64,000.

5. 05

   Collect and file the online-bets tax

   Ongoing

   Collect the tax when each deposit is credited and file form F.2067 every fortnight, even with nothing collected.

6. 06

   Keep up the AML reports

   Ongoing

   Monthly and annual reports to the UIF, a risk self-assessment and an independent review every two years.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 12 Oct 2026.