San Juan lottery agencies are experiencing a paradox that sums up the industry’s current state in Argentina: revenue is growing, demand shows signs of recovery, and recent prizes have generated greater public interest, but margins continue to shrink and the number of active locations continues to fall. The diagnosis was made by Ernesto Pérez, representative of the Chamber of Lottery Agencies (CALA), in statements to the media outlet Diario La Provincia SJ.
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Revenue that rises, but is not enough
The first piece of data emerging from Pérez’s analysis is striking: the sector’s revenue is currently more than 50% higher than that recorded a year ago. However, the CALA representative himself took care to qualify that number from the start.
“Even though we have higher revenue, the margin is increasingly smaller,” Pérez explained, noting that the growth in income failed to compensate for the increase in operating costs, which in some areas advanced at a rate even higher than that of turnover.
Utilities, rent, and general expenses have increased steadily in recent years, eroding the profitability of a sector that, in nominal terms, moves more money than before, but in real terms faces increasingly demanding conditions.
Jackpots as a driver of demand
Within this complex picture, Pérez identified a factor that acts as a concrete driver of activity: jackpots. When a significant result occurs in any of the available draws, player behavior changes immediately and visibly.
“When a prize comes out, people turn out to play,” the leader described, explaining that this impulse is mainly channeled toward external games like Quini, which capture attention when prizes reach significant amounts.
Pérez also highlighted the role of official communication in this process: “This administration advertises jackpots a lot and that is very good for us,” he stated, noting that the active dissemination of results helps sustain public interest and generate peaks of activity in the agencies.
Fifty fewer locations in four years
The impact of pressure on margins has a concrete expression in the number of agencies in operation. Four years ago, San Juan had approximately 440 locations dedicated to lottery sales. Today, around 390 remain, a reduction of nearly 50 points that reflects the cumulative effect of rising costs on the viability of smaller businesses.
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“Some have closed due to high costs and others have had to change address,” Pérez specified, describing an adjustment process that did not happen all at once but gradually, as each operator evaluated whether their particular situation allowed them to sustain the activity.
Online gambling advances without provincial regulation
In addition to cost pressure, the sector faces a structural challenge shared with the gambling industry throughout the region: the growth of online gambling in a framework of absent provincial regulation.
“It is not allowed in the province, but apps appear and people turn to that, especially the younger ones,” Pérez warned. The formal ban did not prevent digital platforms from capturing a growing portion of the time and money that previously went to physical agencies, and the young segment appears to be the most permeable to this migration.
Faced with this reality, the sector’s stance is not one of resistance, but of integration. “We want to be included in any application that is legal,” the leader maintained, suggesting that the solution is not to block digital gambling but to build a framework that allows agencies to participate in that ecosystem under regulated conditions.
The risk for users of unauthorized platforms
Pérez also pointed out a concrete risk for those who choose to play through platforms that are not officially authorized: the possibility of not collecting prizes in case of winning. Many of these sites operate without institutional backing or guarantee mechanisms, exposing users to an uncertainty that formal gambling does not generate.
This argument reinforces the sector’s position regarding the need to move forward with regulation that not only organizes the market from a fiscal or competitive point of view but also offers effective protection to those who participate in it.
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