Recent SAGSE gaming expo in Buenos Aires serves as a timely backdrop to analyze Argentina’s gaming market. In this context, G&M News has obtained exclusive access to two studies that provide a clearer picture of the industry in this South American country.
The first report, Gaming in Argentina: Chance, Virtuality, and the Impact on Adolescents, was a a study conducted by the consulting firm Trends for the Argentine State Lotteries Association (ALEA). The second, Online Gaming in Argentina, was developed by Google.
ALEA’s commissioned text presents compelling statistics. For instance, 78% of those who placed a bet in the past year did so at least once a month, representing 10% of the adult population. The most preferred gaming options included online betting (43%, primarily among individuals aged 18-49) and the traditional lottery known as quiniela (28%, mainly among those over 50). Additionally, 36% of players report spending between ARS 1,000 and 5,000 (USD 1 to 5) per week on gaming activities.
Regarding payment methods, 49% of players use digital wallets for transactions. Meanwhile, 23% believe that in-person betting is safer and less susceptible to fraud than online betting. This perception highlights the difficulties players face in distinguishing between legal and illegal platforms. In fact, one in two adults admits he/she cannot clearly differentiate between a licensed and an unlicensed platform. At the same time, 50% of surveyed adults express support for the legalization of online betting.
UNDERAGE GAMBLING: AN ISSUE TO ADRESS
One of the key areas of research focuses on adolescent gambling, a growing global concern. Understanding their habits, motivations, and exposure levels is crucial for strengthening preventive measures and ensuring effective restrictions on underage access to betting.
According to the ALEA report, 30% of teenagers have engaged in betting despite gambling being strictly prohibited for minors in all Argentine provinces. Among those who have gambled, 44% do so at least once a month, representing 13% of the total respondents. Digital wallets are the most commonly used payment method among adolescent bettors (65%), followed by bank transfers (24%). The primary motivation for betting is financial gain (65%). When asked how they use their profits, 43% state they spend it on other things, 31% save it, and only 10% reinvest it in further bets. Approximately 30.2% of teenagers spend between ARS 1,000 and 5,000 (USD 1 to 5) weekly on gambling. Weekends and holidays are the most popular times for betting (40.9%), with a preference for nighttime activity (30%).
Among teenage gamblers, 37% use their own savings, while 26.5% obtain money from their parents to place bets. When asked about their initial exposure to online gambling, 55.2% report being introduced by friends, 30.8% cite social media, and 6.3% mention influencers as a key source of promotion.
The main emotions associated with online gambling include nervousness, adrenaline, excitement, and joy. Despite recognizing risks such as online fraud, financial losses, and data theft, teenagers do not appear to associate their gambling experience with these dangers.
THE ROLE OF PARENTS OF YOUNG GAMBLERS
Among parents surveyed with children aged 12 to 17, 65% express concern about their children engaging in illegal online betting. However, only 6% believe or know that their children are actually gambling. Of those who acknowledge their child’s participation, one in seven estimates kids started before turning 17, and 70% claim their children gamble less than once a week. Additionally, 68% of these parents believe their children have not had any negative gambling experiences.
Parental responses align with those of their children regarding financing methods: 38.3% state their children use their own savings, while 27% admit their children ask them for money to gamble. To counter underage gambling, parents rely on strategies such as open discussions about risks, monitoring browsing history, setting restrictions on gambling websites, and supervising online expenses.
LACK OF AWARENESS ABOUT ILLEGAL GAMBLING
Similar to their parents, eight out of ten teenagers believe they are gambling on legal platforms, despite the strict prohibition of underage gambling on licensed sites. Overall, the surveyed public demonstrates a lack of awareness regarding the legality and regulations surrounding online gambling in Argentina. In reality, illegal platforms operate without oversight, exposing minors and adult players alike to a variety of risks.
This study highlights a major societal issue: the widespread availability of illegal online gambling platforms, which particularly endangers minors who, despite legal protections, are still vulnerable to fraud and other risks.
INITIATIVES AND CHALLENGES
In response to these concerns, ALEA continues to champion legal, safe, and responsible gaming by fostering controlled environments and implementing stringent regulations to protect players. As an advisory and training body for regulatory agencies, ALEA works to enhance oversight, compliance, and modernization within the gaming sector. Its mission includes promoting responsible gaming and eliminating illegal operations.
Among their initiatives, we can mention optimizing legal platforms with robust identity and age verification systems, developing strategies to detect and report illegal online gambling, generating accurate data to understand industry complexities, launching awareness campaigns emphasizing the significance of the “.bet.ar” domain as a mark of security and legitimacy, and implementing tools to support responsible gaming and prevent problem gambling.
When it comes to highlighting the main challenges it is facing in 2025, ALEA highlights working on consolidating the “.bet.ar” domain as the official identifier of licensed platforms in Argentina, ensuring players recognize it as a symbol of security and regulation, managing tools and processes that facilitate reporting illegal websites and helping prevent the spread of unauthorized online gambling, and strengthening problem gambling prevention strategies by promoting actions that support regulatory bodies in their implementation.
KEY DATA SHARED BY GOOGLE
In this case, the Online Gaming in Argentina report includes statistics from Google, Statista, and Similarweb. The text provides data on online gambling revenue in Argentina from 2022 to 2026. According to Statista, Argentina’s online gambling market was valued at USD 1.39 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 1.57 billion in 2025 and USD 1.72 billion in 2026, reflecting an annual growth rate exceeding 9%. This rise is primarily driven by the expansion of online casinos and sports betting. As for the number of online bettors in Argentina, Statista reports that there were 4.3 million in 2024, with projections reaching 4.6 million in 2025, and 4.8 million in 2026.
Other relevant indicators are also included in Google’s document. For instance, Similarweb recorded 53.9 million monthly visits to online casinos in Argentina between January and September 2024. Meanwhile, the online sports betting category registered 85.8 million monthly visits during the same period. Additionally, according to Statista, the average revenue per online gambling user (ARPU, including online casinos and sports betting) was USD 282.
Regarding user search trends, Google’s stats indicate that brand -operators- search share (from February 2024 to January 2025) was led by Bet365 and Betsson, followed by Betwarrior, bplay, and Betano, among others. Meanwhile, market capitalization data from Google Ads (February 2024 to January 2025) reveals a total spending of USD 4.23 million on sports betting and USD 1.43 million USD on poker and casino games. Finally, in terms of device usage, mobile devices account for most of the volume of generic gambling-related queries, with a clear increase in sports betting searches.