Casinos Maverick to Boost Up Argentinian Neuquén Province’s iGaming Market

Article by : Helen Dec 16, 2020

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It’s finally happening: the Neuquén province’s gambling regulator, the Neuquén Gaming and Betting Institute (IJAN), has given Casinos Maverick the green light to launch its online casino. It will be the first one to be permitted to operate within the Neuquén province.

Casinos Maverick has teamed up with LatamWin, an iGaming development company with an already strong presence in Latin America, to create the online casino platform. The partnership is based on sharing revenues between the parties involved, so it can be a lucrative opportunity for both companies if the online casino launches with success. The new iGaming platform will offer slots, bingo, and casino games to its visitors. There are plans to expand the portfolio to include live dealers and sports betting once the regulators add these activities to the operator’s license.

Casinos Maverick used to focus on land-based operations before the coronavirus pandemic, operating 5 casino venues throughout the Neuquén province. But since COVID-19 hit the company’s line hard enough, the launch of its own online casino comes right on time to help Casinos Maverick weather the storm. LatamWin is also hoping the COVID-19 pandemic will give the online casino a boost since in-person gambling remains difficult and demand is still there.

It has been a complex year in terms of the movement in regulations in Latin America, as in the case of Argentina, which advanced to provide a way out of the COVID-19 crisis for physical casinos..

He continued, “Luckily, due to our commercial management in the country and the agreement with JSD, we were able to obtain two licenses. We thought of them to enter the Argentine market, which has had an excellent result, allowing us to access two places in Catamarca and Neuquén provinces. They have helped us to attend to the complexities of the country since it is not easy to do business in Argentina.”

Argentina online gambling industry is still young compared to land-based gambling. It also isn’t regulated by one single federal law that would cover the country’s whole territory. As it is a federal republic, its provinces – there are 23 of them – and Buenos Aires that has the special autonomous city status as the federal capital are responsible for regulating online and in-person gambling. Licensing also falls under the jurisdiction of each province – so, an online casino holding a license in one province could be prohibited from operating in another one if it doesn’t hold a license there too.

As of now, not all provinces got onboard with the idea of legal online gambling. Only nine out of the total of 24 jurisdictions actually have a legal, officially regulated, up and running online casino market. Another four jurisdictions have already passed the legislation to legalize the industry but are in different stages of launching it. There are also two more jurisdictions that remain undecided regarding setting up a legal online gambling market, and another one that is mulling over the legislative proposals. Buenos Aires flirted with the idea for a while and reached the decision to make online casinos legal not so long ago – Decree 181/2019 that made legal online gambling possible was passed in March 2019.