Last minute changes to a major fiscal reform package approved in Buenos Aires last week saw a 70 percent rise in taxes applied to gross receipts for bingo and slot machine games. The hike is likely to hit the province’s largest bingo operator Codere, while rivals in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires will remain unaffected.

Political attacks focusing on the relationship between local gambling interests and Argentina’s former president Nestor Kirchner have caused two major expanded gambling initiatives in the greater Buenos Aires area to be shelved as lawmakers instead approve new taxes on gambling revenues in the Argentine capital.

Boasting the third largest Spanish-speaking gaming market in the world, Argentina is regarded as a key market for international gambling operators seeking to break into South America.

The leading Buenos Aires daily, La Nación, has reported that the municipal government of Mauricio Macri is studying the possibility of legalizing online gambling in the city, with Greek gaming giant Intralot and local gambling impresario Cristobal López said to be first in line to obtain a local licence.

Politicians in Buenos Aires are set to vote this week on two separate measures that are set to dramatically expand gambling in Argentina’s capital city and in the wider provincial area. If passed, observers believe significant new opportunities should emerge for online gaming operators, with new slot machines also set to be approved as local governments look to plug gaping budget shortfalls.

Mayor Mauricio Macri has submitted plans to claim a higher proportion of gambling revenues from Buenos Aires’ racetrack and floating casinos for the municipal government in a move likely to fuel further speculation surrounding racetrack operations inside and outside of the city.

The Buenos Aires municipal government is hoping to attract international investment for new gaming activities, including internet gambling, once long-standing legal and political uncertainties surrounding the city’s regulatory regime are resolved over the coming months, the head of Buenos Aires’ gambling department told GamblingCompliance in an exclusive interview conducted at last week’s SAGSE exhibition.

A new chapter in Argentina’s political history was opened yesterday when the country’s first elected female leader, Cristina Kirchner, was sworn in as president. However, Government intervention in violent clashes with workers at the two floating casinos in Buenos Aires is keeping the highly politicised issue of gambling high on the agendas of both Kirchner and new Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri as they manoeuvre for power.

Opposition politicians in Buenos Aires province have lambasted Governor Daniel Scioli over his decision to renew seven lucrative casino and bingo licences without opening a public tender process.

The outcome of a major national lottery tender in Argentina remains uncertain after GTech obtained a court injunction to block a process that, it is alleged, was designed to favour Intralot’s Tecno Acción.