⚽️ Argentina🇦🇷: payment platform Mercado Pago launched an “Among Friends” format for World Cup predictions… and faced regulatory scrutiny

⚽️ Argentina🇦🇷: payment platform Mercado Pago launched an “Among Friends” format for World Cup predictions… and faced regulatory scrutiny

ALEA — the association of provincial lottery and casino regulators — sent an official notice to the company. The document states that the “Among Friends” format could fall under Article 301 Bis of the Argentine Criminal Code, which concerns the operation, administration, launch or organization of unauthorized betting schemes.

➡️ Concept: in Argentina, as in many other countries, friends, neighbors and family members often gather to watch football matches and predict results. Based on this practice, Mercado Pago introduced a digital participation format with a prize pool of 13 782 USD daily during each World Cup matchday and a 50,000 USD prize for the overall ranking winner.

➡️ The feature, called “Fixture 2026”, can be organized within the Mercado Pago application for groups of up to 50 participants, under two formats: “Friendly” (without monetary wagers) or “Beans”, where participants may assign amounts of up to 48 USD per person.

➡️ A key detail is that payment to the winner remains voluntary. At the end of the tournament, users independently decide whether to transfer funds to the winner, without direct intervention from Mercado Pago.

➡️ From the regulator’s perspective, the structure represents an “operational promotional activity for the acceptance of illegal bets”.

➡️ By June 5, more than 2.3 million users had submitted over 60 million World Cup predictions for the first tournament stage. For the market, this represents a large-scale activity involving significant user engagement and financial movement.

➡️ The fintech company attempted to reduce regulatory exposure by stating in the platform rules that Mercado Pago’s role “is limited to providing a technological tool allowing participants to register results”, and that the app “does not organize or intervene in any financial arrangements between participants, nor receive or transfer funds related to the tournament”. However, these measures did not prevent regulatory scrutiny.

➡️ Since Argentina operates under a federal system, ALEA additionally requires that the platform’s activities comply with the regulations of each of the country’s 23 provinces, whose requirements may differ substantially.

➡️ According to the source, Mercado Pago has not yet formally responded to the notice, although it has reportedly modified some service conditions. The key adjustment is that within “Among Friends” the stake is not directly deducted from user balances but instead treated as a “reserve” until settlement with the winner, in an attempt to avoid direct fund processing by the platform.

➡️ For PSPs and fintech companies operating in Argentina, this case has become an important indicator. It is now evident that even a “free” structure based on prizes may fall within gambling regulation frameworks.

#news #Argentina #betting #MercadoPago

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