The province of Buenos Aires could ban ATM cash machines in gambling venues if a new Bill presented to the regional government is passed, according to SBC Noticias.
Legislator Daniela Reich has proposed legislation that will remove cash machines from bingo halls, casinos, slot machine rooms, racktracks and many other public areas where bets are currently taken using money.
Reich stated: “Considering the immediate availability of money as a concrete action that encourages compulsive gambling, we propose that the prohibition be through a law, with concrete and temporary effect, so that the executive branch can comply with its effective implementation within a period of two months.”
The proposal to prohibit ATMs at casinos follows a measure taken by Governor Axel Kicillof in 2022, which enabled electronic payment methods, repealing a 2016 decision of the previous administration which removed them from gaming halls.However, the 2022 measure was reversed by Resolution 693, which was published in the Official Gazette on 20 April that same year.
Back then, the authorities decided to “suspend the application of the scope of RESO-2022-447-GDEBA-IPLYCMJGM, signed on March 16, 2022, until the authorised Gaming Rooms in the Province of Buenos Aires resolve the operational issues involved in its implementation, based on the factual and of law set forth in the preceding recitals.”
Various national and regional governments around the world haven been examining how favouring cashless payments methods in gaming venues can provide a bulwark against potential problem gambling.
Over 11,000 kilometres away from Buenos Aires, some Australian authorities have been working to push cashless gaming forward. The government of New South Wales (NSW), for example, has been engaged in statewide trials of cashless gaming payments.
