Argentina revises mandatory warnings for online gambling advertising

Argentina has updated its national rules for gambling and online betting advertising, allowing provincial or Buenos Aires City warning requirements to satisfy federal obligations when they meet national visibility standards. The reform is intended to reduce duplicated messages while preserving prominent responsible-gambling and age-restriction notices.

Argentina has revised the mandatory warning requirements applying to gambling and online betting advertising through Resolution 271/2026, published in the Official Gazette on August 6. The measure amends Resolution 446/2025, which introduced national standards for responsible-gambling warnings across advertising channels.

The central change addresses overlap between federal and local requirements. Several provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires already require their own gambling warnings, age restrictions and, in some cases, helpline information. The federal government said requiring these messages alongside separate national warnings could create unnecessary duplication, overcrowd advertisements and make important information more difficult for consumers to understand.

Under Resolution 271/2026, compliance with a provincial or Buenos Aires City warning regime can now be recognised as satisfying the national requirement, provided the local warning complies with the federal technical standards governing visibility and presentation. Provincial gambling regulators and the regulator in Buenos Aires City are also expressly permitted to adhere to the national framework.

The reform does not remove the underlying responsible-gambling requirements. Advertising distributed through the internet, social media, outdoor media, print, television, audiovisual services, radio and other formats must continue to carry warnings addressing the health risks of compulsive gambling and the restriction of gambling to people aged 18 and over. The national framework retains the messages “EL JUGAR COMPULSIVAMENTE ES PERJUDICIAL PARA LA SALUD” and “+18”.

The updated technical rules make the presentation requirements more specific. For visual advertising, the warnings must appear horizontally at the bottom of the advertising material and within designated screen “safe zones”. They must occupy at least 10% of the overall height of the advertisement, use clearly visible bold characters and maintain sufficient colour contrast.

For television and digital advertising, the warning must remain visible continuously throughout the advertisement rather than appearing only briefly. The rule also addresses newer digital formats: when influencers or live-streaming content refers to how consumers can participate in gambling or access a gambling service, the warning must remain displayed for as long as that information is being communicated.

Radio advertising remains subject to a different presentation requirement. The responsible-gambling message must be read at the end of the commercial without background music and without accelerating the speed of the voice-over relative to the rest of the advertisement. The objective is to ensure that the warning remains understandable rather than technically present but difficult for listeners to follow.

The change is part of a wider debate over gambling advertising in Argentina. Resolution 446/2025 had already expanded national consumer-protection standards for gambling promotions, while the federal government has separately submitted legislation to Congress proposing broader restrictions on advertising and sponsorship associated with unauthorised online gambling and stronger protections for minors.

Resolution 271/2026 took effect on August 6, the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. For advertisers and licensed operators, the practical effect is less a relaxation of responsible-gambling obligations than a harmonisation of overlapping federal and provincial rules. Businesses will still need to ensure that warnings satisfy the national technical standards, but they may no longer need to display multiple versions of substantially the same message where an applicable local warning already meets those requirements.

The reform illustrates the complexity of regulating gambling advertising in Argentina, where provincial authorities retain important responsibilities for gambling while national consumer-protection rules also apply to advertising. By recognising compliant local warnings at federal level, the government is attempting to create a more consistent system without reducing the visibility of responsible-gambling information. The effectiveness of the change will depend on how widely provincial regulators align with the national framework and how consistently the technical standards are enforced.