Two dates, and a bounded update
Original research cutoff: . This later document review on checked selected national law, two Buenos Aires regulators, Córdoba and Entre Ríos records, advertising and tax instruments, and completed tournament reports. Original publication remains .
This is not a survey of every province, individual permission or tax situation. Spanish official text controls over this English account. A listing or historic result cannot certify a current operator, poker game, venue, player or payment route.
Argentina at a glance
On a narrow screen, scroll this table sideways. With a keyboard, focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Question | Documented answer | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Who authorises a game? | Gambling regulators of the relevant province or CABA. | Federal criminal, tax and advertising rules still apply in their own scopes. |
| What does .bet.ar mean? | A national restricted domain zone for regulator-validated online-gaming operators. | A domain alone cannot show poker approval or nationwide reach. |
| Which regions are shown? | Four regulator examples below: CABA, Buenos Aires Province, Córdoba and Entre Ríos. | There is no verified 20-of-24 current census in this review. |
| What national ad rule is enacted? | A compulsive-gambling warning and +18 mark in covered advertising. | Broader ad restrictions were proposed separately in bills. |
Local permission sits beside national rules
Constitution Article 121 reserves to provinces powers not delegated to the federal government. ALEA, the association of public gambling bodies, describes regulators in the 23 provinces and CABA as having authority to administer or regulate gambling in their territories. CABA is its own jurisdiction; it is not a shorthand for the surrounding Province of Buenos Aires.
The national Law 27.346, Article 10, inserted Penal Code Article 301 bis. It addresses exploiting, administering, operating or organising a system that takes bets on games of chance without authorisation from the competent jurisdictional authority. That operator-focused provision explains why a platform must identify its actual regulator. It does not, by itself, answer every question about an individual participant or every poker variant.
The .bet.ar marker has a defined job
The national Domain Register's Disposición 68/2019 enabled the special .bet.ar zone. It was a national domain-register order, not an ALEA resolution. Entre Ríos regulator IAFAS explains that registration is for operators validated by gambling regulators, while ALEA's platform map warns that a registered domain can be non-delegated and non-operational.
For a named poker claim, identify the precise city or province, then inspect that authority's permit and approved game or modality. A familiar brand, a .bet.ar suffix, or a permit for general online gaming is not an automatic permission for a specific poker product or another jurisdiction.
Four jurisdiction records illustrate the differences
These examples are narrower than a national league table. They show what each regulator actually publishes. None of the entries below was verified as a poker-specific licence for a named platform.
On a narrow screen, scroll this table sideways. With a keyboard, focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| Jurisdiction | Primary record | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Buenos Aires City (CABA) | LOTBA's authorised-agency page lists permission dispositions for agencies allowed to commercialise online games within the City. Its rules index links the underlying framework. | The agency list does not identify the approved poker variants or extend a city permission into Buenos Aires Province. |
| Buenos Aires Province | Law 15.079, Articles 146–149, covers online casino table games and other categories with effects in the Province, but requires the IPLyC to authorise the particular modality. The IPLyC says seven online licences were authorised. | Seven licences are not seven poker approvals; historic applicants and site brands are not proof of a current game permission. |
| Córdoba | Lotería de Córdoba displays four official online-game domains on its current page. | A count of displayed domains is not a licence quota, approved poker menu or individual eligibility test. |
| Entre Ríos | IAFAS identifies itself as the province's regulator and links its IAFASPlay channel. In a July 2024 statement it described Bplay as its only licensed online-game company then. | The historical one-company statement is not a current licence count or a poker authorisation. |
The earlier “20 of 24 regulated” total and eight-row licence counts could not be reproduced from a dated primary census. The ALEA map is useful for locating jurisdiction headings and regulated-domain claims, but its displayed content does not classify all 24 jurisdictions as operational or determine game-by-game permissions.
The enacted advertising rule differs from the bills
Secretariat of Industry and Commerce Resolution 446/2025, Article 5, set national conditions for gambling advertising. Its annex was replaced by Resolution 271/2026 of the Secretariat of Industry, Commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises, published and effective 6 August 2026. The amended annex requires covered advertisements to carry “EL JUGAR COMPULSIVAMENTE ES PERJUDICIAL PARA LA SALUD” and “+18”; it also addresses placement and continued display. A qualifying provincial or CABA warning can satisfy the national warning duty if the technical conditions are met.
The broader prohibition described in the old article was a bill. On 27 November 2024, the Chamber of Deputies approved it by 139 to 36 with 59 abstentions and sent it to the Senate. A 9 September 2026 Deputies resolution proposal asks the Senate to resume debate; that request is itself not an enacted ban. Separately, the national government announced a different bill on 26 May 2026 about illegal platforms, minors and advertising. Its proposed measures likewise do not establish enacted law.
The enacted warning rule does not grant any gambling permission. The two bills should not be combined into a claim that all online-gambling advertising has been banned, or into a forecast of how either proposal will end.
A bet, a prize and operator income are different tax questions
The federal Decree 293/2022 implements an indirect charge on covered online bets. Article 1 puts it on the person making the bet or playing the game; Articles 2–3 specify collection by a resident operator or domestic payment intermediary in different cases. ARCA's domestic-operator guidance sets out 5% for a registered domestic operator without foreign involvement, 2.5% only when registration and specified investment and staffing conditions are also met, and 7.5% for an unregistered domestic operator without foreign involvement. Its foreign-involvement guidance sets out 10% or 15% under separate conditions. These are conditional rules, not a universal “2.5% poker tax.” The decree's stated allocation is 95% under the federal tax-sharing regime and 5% to ARSAT, not a direct 95% transfer to provinces.
A prize tax is separate. Law 20.630, Article 1, reaches defined lottery/draw and sports-prediction prizes; it does not simply say “all poker winnings.” Decree 668/1974, Article 1, excludes winnings from games of chance in authorised casinos and game rooms from that particular prize levy. This does not settle the classification of every poker result. Law 27.630, Article 10, mentions poker in a rule about income from exploiting casino games and digital betting. That is an operator-income category, not a tax rate for an individual winner.
These texts do not settle whether a particular tournament award, cash-game result or foreign payment is taxable to a particular person. The earlier 31.5% all-winnings figure is withdrawn. Actual tax treatment depends on the facts and current Argentine professional advice.
A documented tournament history, with dates
The Circuito Argentino de Póker's March 2024 report describes a completed series at Casino Buenos Aires, including a High Roller result and the next stop planned at that time. It is evidence of that event, not of a present venue permission, number of open tables or future calendar.
The World Series of Poker's January 2021 account records Argentine Damián Salas winning the 2020 Main Event title after its unusual online and live format. That result documents an Argentine player's international achievement; it cannot answer the domestic online-poker authorisation question.
Research and safety
A regulator's list, a .bet.ar registration and a poker game's actual permission have different scopes. If a site's status matters, start from the responsible province or CABA regulator and check the precise permit and game. Keep a record of the page and date used for that check.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is online poker legal throughout Argentina?
The reviewed records do not support one nationwide answer. Gambling permissions are issued by the relevant province or Buenos Aires City, and a listed online-gaming agency is not automatically approved for every poker format. The actual jurisdiction, permit, authorised game and platform have to be checked together. This review does not decide an individual's legal position.
Does a .bet.ar address prove a poker site is authorised for me?
No. The national domain-register order created .bet.ar as a restricted registration zone, and ALEA says a registrant needs validation by a gambling regulator. The suffix is useful for finding a claimed regulated channel, but a registered domain may not be operational, and it does not show a particular poker game's approval or permission in every province.
Are Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province the same regulator?
No. LOTBA lists online-gaming agencies authorised within the autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA). The Province of Buenos Aires has a different law and regulator, IPLyC. A city listing cannot be read as a provincial permission, or the reverse. The named game and territorial terms still matter.
Has Argentina enacted a complete gambling-advertising ban?
The national records checked here show an enacted warning rule, not the broad ban proposed in the 2024 lower-house bill. Economy Secretariat Resolution 446/2025, as amended by Resolution 271/2026 effective 6 August 2026, requires a compulsive-gambling warning and +18 mark in covered advertising. The 2024 bill went to the Senate, and a separate executive bill was introduced in May 2026. Their proposals should not be described as enacted restrictions.
Is there a 31.5% tax on all Argentine poker winnings?
The reviewed primary texts do not support that blanket figure. Law 20.630 concerns defined draw and sports-prediction prizes. Its implementing decree excludes winnings from games of chance in authorised casino and game rooms from that particular levy; it does not classify every poker result. The indirect tax on covered online bets is a different charge, and the income-tax provision that mentions poker concerns business income from operating games. A person's tournament or cash-game tax position needs the payment facts and qualified Argentine advice.
What Argentine poker history is documented here?
The Circuito Argentino de Póker recorded a completed March 2024 event at Casino Buenos Aires. WSOP records that Argentine player Damián Salas won the 2020 Main Event title in January 2021. Those dated results do not verify today's venue licence, current tournament schedule or online-poker permission.
Sources, corrections and remaining limits
The Spanish legal and regulator texts and the event organisers' reports linked here were checked on . They establish different things; an operator list or a completed event cannot substitute for an individual permit, current product record or personal tax assessment.
- Constitution, Article 121; ALEA's explanation of 24 local authorities; and Law 27.346, Article 10 / Penal Code Article 301 bis: local competence and the national offence concerning unauthorised operation.
- DNRDI Disposición 68/2019, preamble and Article 1; IAFAS's .bet.ar explanation; and ALEA's platform map: domain origin, regulator validation and why registration is not the same as an operational product.
- LOTBA's CABA agency permissions and rules index; Buenos Aires Province Law 15.079, Articles 146–149 and IPLyC's seven-licence page; Córdoba's domain list; IAFAS regulator page and dated 2024 company statement: four examples, not a national census or poker approval list.
- Economy Secretariat Resolution 446/2025 and Resolution 271/2026, substituted annex: enacted warnings. Deputies' 2024 vote record, the September 2026 resolution proposal and the May 2026 government proposal: distinct legislative records.
- Decree 293/2022, Articles 1–7 and 12 and ARCA guidance on filing and collection, domestic operators and foreign involvement; Law 20.630 and Decree 668/1974; Law 27.630, Article 10: separate bet, prize and business-income categories.
- CAP's March 2024 event report and WSOP's January 2021 Salas report: completed results only.
What changed in this review
We corrected the issuer of the .bet.ar order, replaced unsupported jurisdiction and licence counts with regulator records, and separated the enacted ad-warning rule from proposed ad restrictions. The old crypto-adoption figures, broad poker-winnings rate, current venue claims and named cross-province operator roster were not substantiated for this update.
We withdrew the earlier graphic because its jurisdiction and cryptocurrency figures were not verified. This review did not examine every jurisdiction, poker permit, tax fact pattern or later legislative act.
Related country research
Each country guide has its own sources and research dates.