Argentina: An affiliate’s guide to organic igaming marketing

The Argentine online gambling market has opened up significantly in recent years, but it’s still far from a free-for-all.

As with other regulating (rather than regulated) markets, there are uncertainties for affiliates around how guidelines will be enforced in practice, the evolving presence of offshore operators and the complexities of laws being made province-by-province.

While the market is regulated at the provincial level, there’s no single national framework and both affiliates and operators need to understand and apply policies based on a patchwork of local laws and regulatory bodies.

More than this, the competitive landscape is already a blend of domestic and international brands - some with pretty hefty budgets.

For example, in the province of Buenos Aires, there are seven operator licences which are mostly held by foreign/global groups like Flutter, Bet365, Playtech, 888, William Hill, to name a few.

When it comes to digital marketing and growth, there are a few regulatory points to be particularly aware of -

Provincial regulation rules

Argentina’s 23 provinces and the city of Buenos Aires each have the authority to regulate online gambling individually and approval in one province doesn’t grant access to others.

Affiliates also need a licence, depending on the province

CABA (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires): Regulated by LOTBA (Lotería de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires). Only licensed operators can advertise and affiliates must be disclosed and approved by the operator.

Buenos Aires Province: Similar to CABA, no separate affiliate licence is required, but brands must be linked to a licensed operator and follow local rules. For context, Buenos Aires and the surrounding provinces account for around 46% of the population of Argentina so affiliates need to get this right when deciding on their priorities and approach to Argentina.

Other provinces: Rules vary, and while some are overtly opening up (e.g., Mendoza, Córdoba), others are closed or silent on affiliates.

Advertising restrictions

Marketing must comply with each province’s advertising guidelines, adding complexity and potential stress for those with limited time and resources. Most provinces explicitly prohibit advertising unlicensed platforms within their territory with platforms often seemingly eager to help manage this to protect position and reputation in the country.

What this means is that Argentina has a lot of the market traits that investors like in the form of a young (median age 32), digitally active population with particularly large followings for football, esports and traditionally ‘secondary’ or ‘tertiary’ sports like basketball. Yet, there are barriers and potential pitfalls for fully white hat affiliates.

As ever, while regulations are often intended to protect players and create a fair playing field, uncertainty and constraints can also encourage offshore operators to take root, and these brands present a competitive advantage to those who are abiding by the rules.

That said, with 40 million estimated internet users, savvy audiences who are familiar with fantasy sports and the more general, inflation-driven shift to low-cost, high-reward entertainment, there are gains to be made.

More than this, affiliates who have learned lessons from other Spanish-speaking markets in LatAm may be feeling bullish about the prospects for growth and ability to make fewer missteps.

To de-risk strategy in Argentina, there are several back-to-basics steps that affiliates can take to build local visibility in authentic ways across interconnected, organic marketing initiatives.

Geo-targeted SEO

• Use province-specific landing pages: “Apuestas online en Buenos Aires” vs. “Casinos en Córdoba” are examples of maximising topical relevance - as we’ve seen in other regulating markets, trust is key.

Reconfirming your brand’s affinity and understanding of the local dimension and local preferences can help you get ahead - particularly as an affiliate where knowledge and authority is key to becoming a trusted resource.

• Implement hreflang tags or subdirectories for regional content: /ba/, /cordoba/ make it easier for search engines to rank the most relevant content. This can also act as another trust-building signal with local audiences.
  
  
• Local keyword research is (of course) essential: This feels like an obvious but sometimes neglected point in this age of AI, but it’s important for affiliates to develop a plan based on real understanding of local search trends and real data. If using tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs and so on, focus on Argentinian Spanish

The popularity of emerging Latin American markets often lead marketers to take rash decisions when localising their marketing approach so that they can start making money straight away.

This leads to both operators and affiliates often taking a generalised approach to Latin American / Latin American Spanish which can over-simplify complex cultural nuances across the countries within.

This runs the risk of a) offending/pushing away people of different nationalities and b) alienating local audiences who may not feel you truly understand them and their needs - a crucial factor for growth in emerging markets.

2. Build local

• For those with a sports focus, target Argentinian sports blogs, news sites, and forums for backlinks, particularly with topical content accompanying each link focused on the major points of local interest e.g. rivalries between Boca Juniors and River Plate, the performance of international players and so on.
  
  
• Consider sponsorships or content partnerships with local football teams or influencers, where permitted - while the market has many crucial differences, there are intriguing examples of success in Brazil for these methodologies.
  
  
• Use Argentinian-Spanish anchor text that matches your target keywords - but don’t be tempted to ‘over-optimise’. Gaining an SEO foothold in a ‘new’ market is as much about avoiding risk as it is about capitalising on opportunity.
  
  

 3. Local culture

• Emphasise local sports (football above all), tournaments (e.g., Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana Copa de la Liga, Liga Profesional), and betting interests (prop bets on local players on the international stage - Cavani, Herrera and the like).

• Local idioms and expressions resonate more, like “apostar a lo seguro,” not just “apuestas deportivas.” This is an easy thing to get right - and a red flag for brands who don’t.
  
  

 4. Amplifying trust

• There’s no shortage of potential influencers who can attract niche, and mass audiences - we’ve absolutely seen a boom in this method at ICS.
• Consider collaborations with Argentinian streamers, YouTubers, or sports podcasters. In Latam, Argentina is second only to Brazil in total number of influencers operating - 1.1 million to be precise.
• In brokering partnerships, understand compliance and in partner deals, ensure you understand the licensing status of the operators you link to in each province, and include responsible gambling disclaimers in local Spanish

Summing up

Talks are ongoing at federal level for a more homogeneous and ‘unified’ cross-provincial gambling framework to try and combat ‘grey areas’ of the current provincial landscape where illegal activity can flourish as a result of ‘cross-border confusion’.

What this means for affiliates abiding by regulations in the market is that agility and reactivity are still vital in order to capitalise on opportunities, and stay on the right side of the rules. Creativity, tenacity and authenticity in content, SEO and marketing more generally is key.