Online Gaming In South America

Internet gaming allows players from anywhere in the world to wager on online casino games. Therefore it is becoming popular the world over. South America is also experiencing this onrush of online gaming and South American countries have to take a call on how to react. Argentina and Brazil are two nations that are bitter rivals on the soccer field and they have decided to take different routes as far as online gambling is concerned.

Argentina has chosen the path of legalization, regulation and taxation. Anibal Fernandez, the head of Argentina’s presidential cabinet says that they are trying to have regulation in place by next year, though he confesses it may take longer. Fernandez is of the opinion that the United States has failed to impose a ban on online gambling. Despite the UIGEA and the best efforts of the US Department of Justice (DoJ), offshore online casinos are able to service American resident players. Therefore, instead of allowing unlicensed and unregulated online gambling to thrive, the Argentinean government seeks to protect consumers’ interests and generate revenue by regulating the industry. It is being said that the Argentinean government will need revenue to operate its newly acquired soccer network and plans to tax the online gaming industry for that purpose. However Fernandez refused to be drawn into a discussion on whether online gaming revenues would be used to finance soccer broadcasts. He merely said, “That’s another subject.”

On the other hand Brazil is seeking to impose a UIGEA like legislation on the online gaming industry in the country. Despite knowing about the problems created by the UIGEA, Brazilian Senator Magno Malta has been pushing this bill for over a year. It is currently in the Communications and Technology Committee of the Brazilian legislature. Like the UIGEA this bill will make processing payments for online casinos illegal. It proposes criminal penalties for credit card companies and other financial services providers who handle payments for lotteries, sports betting, and online casinos. Third party payment processors and Internet service providers who abet the transfer of such funds will also fall in the purview of the law. Online gambling is illegal in Brazil, but Internet casino operators function with impunity. The Brazilian government is not directly able to prevent them from offering services to Brazilian residents. Hence the government is moving to block the flow of finances.

Brazil feels that the problems that arose in the United States in connection with the UIGEA will not arise here. In the United States the different states have different laws on online gambling and that is one of the difficulties. The other problem is that lotteries and horse racing are not targeted in the United States thereby giving rise to claims of discrimination. Brazil has uniform national laws and hence may not face these issues.

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