TLDR
- Buenos Aires Province lawmakers passed a law to regulate cell phone and screen use in primary and secondary schools.
- The law covers students aged 6 to 17 in both public and private schools.
- Schools must teach students about the risks of screen time, including access to illegal online betting.
- Provincial lottery chief Gonzalo Atanasof said illegal gambling makes up about 80% of the province’s market.
- He estimated Argentina’s illegal gambling market at USD 3.6 billion and called for stronger regulation.
The Buenos Aires Province Legislature has passed a law to regulate cell phone and screen use in primary and secondary schools. The goal is to promote responsible use of technology in classrooms.
Lawmakers also want to lower the risk of minors accessing illegal online betting sites and developing gambling problems.
The bill was introduced by provincial lawmaker Martín Rozas. He said phones are a useful tool for teaching and learning, but they have raised concerns in recent years.
Those concerns include problem gambling and the effect of screens on social interaction, according to Rozas.
What the New School Law Requires
The law applies to students aged 6 to 17. It is meant to help both public and private schools manage how students use their devices during class.
Schools will also need to teach students about the dangers and effects of screen time. They are expected to support healthy and responsible use of technology.
The law includes protocols and suggestions for putting the rules in place. It also calls for ongoing monitoring to measure how well the measures work and where they can be improved.
After the law passed, Rozas said technology should still be used in classrooms, but with protections in place.
“This bill provides adolescents with a safe space, so they are better protected within educational institutions,” he said.
“We know very well that technology is a necessary tool for the future and that students need to know how to use it, but excessive screen exposure is also harmful to adolescents,” Rozas added.
Illegal Gambling Makes Up Most of the Market
The school law comes as officials in Buenos Aires Province debate a broader bill on online gambling.
During those talks, Gonzalo Atanasof, head of the Provincial Lottery and Casino Institute (IPLyC), presented data to the provincial Committee on Gambling, Lotteries and the Prevention of Gambling Addiction.
Atanasof said illegal gaming is believed to account for about 80% of the total gambling market in the province. He added that authorities have only a limited view of this activity, mostly through cyber patrols and public complaints.
He described the illegal market as “financially enormous” and estimated its value in Argentina at USD 3.6 billion.
To put that in context, he compared it to a USD 1 billion IMF operation and the USD 1.4 billion budget of Argentina’s National Ministry of Justice.
Regulators have described illegal online gambling as “out of control.” The proposed gambling framework aims to give authorities more power to police the sector.
While the school law focuses on device use and awareness, both measures share the goal of protecting minors and improving oversight of online activity.
Atanasof has urged lawmakers to move the gambling bill forward and asked that the regulator be included in the process.
“We want to be involved in the discussion, to contribute with our data and knowledge in establishing the best law, one as effective as possible and useful for all of the population of Buenos Aires Province,” he said.
