Buenos Aires, Argentina – It is December in the capital of Buenos Aires, and the summertime temperatures have soared to 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).
The sun beats relentlessly on the corrugated metal roofs of Villa Fiorito, a working-class neighbourhood south of Argentina’s capital city.
Teenagers in flip-flops ride their motorbikes through the dirt streets. Other kids look for shady spots to rest and rinse their feet with a garden hose.
Carla G, who requested anonymity, is one of the neighbourhood teenagers. At age 18, she is nearing the end of high school. One of her favourite pastimes was playing football with her friends at the neighbourhood sports club, not far from where Diego Maradona, a legendary player, grew up.
But her hobbies took a backseat last June when she took up online gambling.
“Almost all of my friends from school are involved in online gambling in one way or another,” Carla said. “They admit it’s a problem.”
Carla is part of a growing trend in Argentina’s society: teenagers and young adults gambling their money online.
Last October, the ombudsman of the city of Buenos Aires published a report that found that nearly a quarter of local students aged 12 to 19 had gambled online.
The vast majority, 67 percent, cited the need for fast cash as their motivation. As poverty rises in Argentina, experts fear that online betting will become all the more tempting — and illegal platforms, as well as legitimate ones, will proliferate.
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