Mendoza enables online self-exclusion as province upgrades responsible gambling controls

Argentina’s Mendoza province has formally enabled online self-exclusion for gambling through a new regulatory update that lets users complete the process remotely, while reinforcing its facial-recognition-based monitoring system as part of a broader responsible gambling framework.

Mendoza’s Provincial Institute of Games and Casinos (IPJyC) has approved a new procedure for the Registro Único de Autoexcluidos de Mendoza, or RUAM, introducing an online self-exclusion mechanism that allows people to request exclusion from anywhere in the province. Resolution No. 160 was signed on March 27 and took effect upon its publication in the Official Gazette on March 31. The text describes the online option as the most relevant change in the new framework and says it is intended to make the process simpler, safer and more accessible.

The new model is particularly important because it is designed to reach users who gamble from home on online platforms or who cannot easily travel to a physical exclusion point. In the resolution, the IPJyC says the change is inclusive by design, since it allows any person, regardless of geographic location, to request self-exclusion remotely within Mendoza. Industry coverage says this also removes the previous need to appear in person at a gaming venue to complete the process.

The reform also updates the technological backbone of the system. Mendoza has ratified the use of its Sistema Integral de Reconocimiento Facial, or SIRF, as the operating core of RUAM, preserving the biometric control model the province first implemented in 2021 to identify self-excluded individuals and block entry into gaming venues. The official responsible gambling page says that system unified real-time control across Mendoza’s casinos and connected gaming-room cameras to the regulator’s database.

At the regulatory level, the move goes beyond a simple digital convenience upgrade. Resolution No. 160 expressly repeals the 2021 Resolution No. 275 and approves a new procedure for the biometric facial-recognition system tied to RUAM, while sector reporting says the update responds to the rise of online gambling and aims to modernize player protection. For Mendoza, that means responsible gambling tools are being adapted to a market where risk no longer begins only inside physical casinos.

The province’s official responsible gambling framework also continues to link self-exclusion with public-health support. Mendoza’s program describes RUAM as a confidential database tied to voluntary self-exclusion acts, with exclusion periods ranging from three months to five years and assistance offered through the provincial responsible gambling service. Together, those elements suggest the latest reform is intended not just to tighten control, but to lower the barrier for people seeking help before gambling behavior escalates further.