Argentineans love to gamble and the capital city of Buenos Aires has a thriving betting industry that has a caused a number of controversies in the lead up to the country’s presidential elections which are expected to take place on the 25th of October 2015.

Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri who is running for the presidential election has been accused in the past of not doing enough to control gaming in the city and many believe that it cause for gambling addictions and becomes a nuisance to family and social life. Macri has shrugged of those accusations by stating that the National Lottery is in charge of gaming in Buenos Aires and he has very little control over what happens in the gaming industry.

Macri has gone on record to state that “The opposition have tried to increase the number of bingo halls and we have rejected it and we will put these limits in practice on a national level when we come into power. The body which defines what is done in gaming is the National Lottery – we have only been minor players with little room for action until now,

That is all set to change as the government in Buenos Aires recently announced that it advised the Institute of Games and Betting in Buenos Aires not to renew its contract with the National Lottery. The contract expires this December and the government of Buenos Aires has decided to take on the responsibility of managing all gaming activities in the city.

The government decided not to renew the contract with the National Lottery as it wanted to take full control of gaming related activities in order to set a limit on the speed of expansion and also monitor the resources being generated by the gaming industry and the allocation of such resources.

The initial agreement made between the National Lottery and the city of Buenos Aires was completed in 2003 and made for a four year tenure. The agreement had an automatic renewal policy for another four years unless and until one of the parties decided to stop the agreement and call for a change. The autonomous city of Buenos Aires has decided that the time has come for a change and will have another six months to put together a robust structure to control and monitor gaming in Buenos Aires.