Offline lottery sales in San Juan Province, Argentina, are facing severe challenges. The San Juan Lottery Agency Association (CALA) recently issued a warning that on-site betting volumes are continuously declining, and if they cannot quickly participate in online gambling regulation and operation, the traditional agency system may struggle to continue.
CALA Chairman Ernesto Perez, in an interview with the San Juan Times, pointed out that there are currently about 420 lottery sales outlets in the province, 80% of which belong to the association. "These agencies are still there, but they are shrinking in size." He said that although there has not been a large-scale closure wave yet, more and more operators are choosing to cut costs, relocate to places with lower rents, or even try selling other products to maintain operations.
Online impact, loss of young people
The decline in offline sales is not only due to the overall economic downturn in Argentina but also crucially due to the rapid development of online gambling. "Traditional games like Quini 6 or Loto are gradually losing their appeal among young people," Perez candidly stated. The problem of an aging lottery betting group is becoming increasingly apparent, while online gambling platforms are more favored by digital natives.
Striving for regulatory participation, promoting "online + offline" integration
To prevent the development of the online market from completely bypassing the traditional sales system, CALA is calling on the government to ensure that traditional betting stations can also participate as agents when formulating provincial online gambling regulations. "We cannot sit and wait to be eliminated; we must promote a mixed sales model where offline and online coexist," Perez emphasized.
Currently, San Juan Province is planning a digital gambling ecosystem through the "Social Action Fund" framework. CALA hopes to quickly reach a cooperation mechanism with the government, allowing betting stations to have participation rights, while also attracting online users and stabilizing offline regular customers.
Survival or elimination: Transformation is urgent
"If no measures are taken, as revenue continues to decrease, we will even struggle to sustain fixed costs," Perez candidly stated. If the industry wants to save itself, it must actively embrace technological changes and reshape its business model. He appealed: "Traditional lottery sales must be digitized, or they will only be eliminated by the times."
This transformation storm from offline to online may determine the future fate of thousands of lottery sales outlets in Argentina.
