Argentina’s Cámara Argentina de Salas de Casinos, Bingos y Anexos (CASCBA) took part in a technical training session aimed at strengthening regional cooperation against illegal online gambling. Organised by the Asociación de Loterías Estatales de Argentina (ALEA), the session brought together public and private sector representatives from Argentina and Paraguay to share enforcement experience and investigative practices.
Regulators and enforcement agencies participate
The Argentine delegation included ALEA executive director Mario Alejandro Trucco and academic programmes coordinator Luis Zanazzi, alongside LOTBA representatives Ezequiel Domínguez, Eva Del Río Frontera and Federico Cattori.
Rodrigo Nahuel Branca of the Cuerpo de Investigaciones Judiciales and Belén Rota of Buenos Aires’s Fiscalía Especializada en Juegos de Azar (FEJA) also participated. Paraguay was represented by the Asociación Paraguaya de Operadores de Juegos de Azar (APOJA), the Ministerio Público, anti-money laundering body SEPRELAD and the Policía Nacional del Paraguay.
Focus on illegal digital betting
The training examined how illegal online betting networks operate, including methods used to recruit players through social media and other digital channels. Participants also discussed investigative and digital intelligence techniques, electronic evidence preservation and the money laundering risks associated with illegal gambling.
Argentine representatives shared their experience of cooperation between regulators, prosecutors, investigative bodies and licensed operators, with the aim of supporting Paraguay’s development of its own enforcement capabilities. CASCBA presented the licensed private sector’s perspective, covering the commercial impact of illegal gambling, risks to players and mechanisms for identifying and reporting illicit activity and fraud.
Cross-border cooperation
CASCBA executive director Rodolfo Edgardo Cattaneo said the international nature of illegal online betting made cooperation between jurisdictions essential to enforcement efforts. APOJA president Lorena Rojas also highlighted the importance of international knowledge sharing in responding to the continued development of illegal online gambling.
The initiative is intended to support further institutional cooperation between Argentina and Paraguay, with a focus on improving their ability to prevent, detect and investigate illegal online betting and associated financial crime. The session also provided a framework for further exchanges between regulators, enforcement agencies and licensed gambling businesses in the two countries.