Poker in Argentina

Casinos with Poker

• Casinos del Litoral
• Casino Buenos Aires
• Casino Club Santa Rosa

Argentina has a rich gambling culture with a long history.

Originally, games of chance were introduced to the natives of the country by Spanish colonizers in the 16th Century. Soon enough, card and dice games became a popular pastime among all people in Argentina, regardless of their ethnicity or social class. 

For the elite, it became very fashionable in the late 19th Century to attend the horse track and “play the ponies”. They also had their own local game of chance called “Turf”.

Fast forward over 100 years: in today’s Argentina, you can gamble both in land casinos and online legally – if you’re in the right part of the country. Gambling is regulated by each province autonomously.

In late 2019, Argentina made news in the gambling industry media with the election of the new governor of Buenos Aires province. His predecessor set into motion the regulation and licencing of online gambling. Argentina’s largest province hasn’t had such a framework in place so far. However, by the time the newly elected Governor Kicillof took office, the process wasn’t finished. So it’s up to the new governor to make the calls on internet gambling, possibly abandoning the entire project.

Thus the state of online gambling in the capital of Argentina and in its proximity became uncertain once again. It’s a huge disappointment to the local betting men and poker players after everything seemed to be moving in the right direction, even bidding for the licences has started.

Famous Argentine Poker Players

Damian Salas won the unique 2020 online-live hybrid WSOP Main Event. He got $1.551 million for winning the international segment of the tournament, and an additional $1 million for defeating the US segment’s victor Joseph Hebert heads-up for the title. Two years earlier, in 2017, he also reached the final table of the WSOP Main. That time, he finished 7th for $1.425 million.

Maria Lampropulos is one of the most successful female live tournament players today. Her big break was in April 2017, when he won the £5,300 NLHE event at the partypoker MILLIONS Live in Nottingham for £1,000,000. She also claimed victory in the $10K Main Event at the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $1.081 million. Overall, she cashed for $3.378 million in live tournaments during her career.

Ivan Luca is a WSOP gold bracelet winner. He took down the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $353,391 in 2015. In 2018, he came in 3rd in the $50K PCA High Roller for $494,080. That is his biggest single live tournament cash to date. Luca currently tops the Argentine all time money list on Hendon with $6.511 million in career earnings.

As for online poker, a player from Santa Fe, Argentina playing under the screen name “progre69” has amassed $3.4 million in online tournament winnings. Ramiro Petrona, who plays under the screen name “ramastar88” on PokerStars and “letsgodancing” on partypoker, is also a major online MTT winner.

– Playing Live Poker in Argentina –

   Live Poker Legislation in Argentina

As you can tell by the situation in Buenos Aires province outlined in our intro, gambling regulation is under the purview of the provincial governments in Argentina. 

As of now, 6 out of the 23 provinces have legal gambling. Buenos Aires was expected to become the 7th – however, as we covered earlier, the election of the new governor put that into some doubt.

  Live Poker Venues in Argentina

Those 6 provinces with legal gambling are home to 107 licenced casinos, by worldcasinodirectory.com’s account. Pokerdiscover.com puts the number of poker rooms operating in the country at 26.

Casinos del Litoral is located in the city of Corrientes. They run multiple No Limit Hold’em tournaments daily. The buy-ins range between $250 and $5,000. They host events for a tournament series called Litoral Poker, which puts on poker events across South America.

If you’re looking to play a game type other than Texas Hold’em, however, this isn’t the casino for you. It is very clear from their website that they only have NLHE events – all the info about their poker tournaments are under their “Texas” tab on their website

Despite the legal gambling being in a state of limbo in Buenos Aires province, Casino Buenos Aires is still open and thriving in the capital city. They have a “regular” poker room and a “high roller’s lounge” for the highest stakes game as well. 

Casino Club Santa Rosa in Santa Rose has 3 tournaments on their schedule every week. They have either $500 or $1,000 buy-ins.

Just like all of the venues mentioned above, this casino doesn’t have any information about cash games on their website either. This likely means that many of the provinces with legal gambling take the same approach as Brazil. Tournaments are regarded as a game of skill and thus are legal, while cash games are not. 

– Casinos and Poker Rooms in Argentina –

  Online Poker Legislation in Argentina

Online gambling is regulated by provincial governments as well, just like land based gambling. Evidently, this is not the ideal set-up for internet gambling, since online casinos are accessible from everywhere in the country, while land casinos are localized.

Thus the Argentine government has been attempting to create a federal licencing and regulatory body for online games of chance since the 1990’s – however, so far, to no avail.

Online gambling is popular in Argentina, especially sports betting – more specifically, betting on soccer. Online poker also has a significant player base in the country.

Most major poker sites don’t restrict Argentine players from accessing their sites. There are a few exceptions, for example, the Microgaming Network’s Guts Poker. However, if you’re in the right province, you can play on sites like PokerStars, 888, partypoker, Natural8 and many more fully legally.