The Internet betting website miapuesta.com, operated by Sportingbet PLC, has been denounced in Argentina as illegal. Accusations laid against the company include fraud, tax evasion, foreign exchange violations and money laundering. The Argentinean Union of Gaming Employees (ALEARA) has brought the unprecedented legal action, claiming that the present legal vacuum allows clandestine gambling and that the site operators are not authorized in Argentina, pay no taxes and do not comply with local laws for the protection of workers and security for gamblers or anti money laundering directives.

Sportingbet, quoted on AIM in London, justifies its position by stating that the bets are not made in Argentina where Internet gambling is illegal. On its website, miapuesta.com urges players to only gamble on accredited sites such as its own, which is operated by Internet Opportunity Entertainment Ltd, a subsidiary of Sportingbet Plc that utilizes licences from Australia, Antigua & Barbuda and the United Kingdom, according to the site. Unlike some online gambling operators, miapuesta does not refuse to take bets from jurisdictions where Internet gambling is illegal. However, under its rules it states that it is the responsibility of the client to comply with local laws and, where online gambling is illegal, credit or debit card use is not authorized.

The company takes bets on Argentina’s football league games, but within the country the National Lottery is the only entity legally entitled to do so. ALEARA points out that miapuesta does not declare its winnings for tax purposes, to the detriment of national and provincial social and sporting projects supported by the regulated land-based operations. The Argentinean Football Association has added its voice to the argument, classifying Internet betting on its league results as illegal.

The workers union has called for the immediate removal of all advertising for miapuesta, which at the moment has a highly visible presence in the national press. It has also demanded that links to the website be removed, something not easy to achieve. The United States has so far been unable to stop its citizens from gambling on the Internet and Argentina will be unlikely to succeed where the US has failed. The most the government can likely accomplish is to ban advertising within Argentina and make it difficult for credit/debit transactions to be undertaken. Internet gambling operations may have become a mainstream service for many around the world, but legally they are still very much in a grey area.
(E-10.14.05)

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