The Association of Lotteries, Quinielas and State Casinos of Argentina (ALEA) has formally requested that the Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre modify the “Fixture 2026” section of its digital wallet Mercado Pago in order to comply with current regulations.
Despite being promoted as a game, “Fixture 2026” allowed users to predict results of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches and also bet on them, in a format called “tournaments with friends.”
According to ALEA, Mercado Libre’s proposal “presents characteristics that could be classified as soliciting unauthorized bets, under the terms of Article 301 bis of the Penal Code, with the legal consequences that this entails.”
At first, Mercado Libre argued that the use of the “game” was free, and that the company neither received nor distributed money from its users for these bets (although they promoted daily prizes in purchase orders and a grand final prize of 50 thousand dollars). Then, following pressure from ALEA, Marcos Galperin’s company made a series of changes.
The “tournament with friends” tool, which previously allowed users to indicate symbolic amounts of money, now only offers the options “Friendly” and “For the beans” (“Por los porotos”).
This allows each group of friends or family members to participate freely and at no cost, defining among themselves the meaning or destination of the ‘beans’ that may eventually be obtained at the end of the tournament, without intervention from the platform. In other words, it is no longer possible to bet money within the platform.
The debate surrounding the “World Cup Prode” takes place in a context of growing concern over the rise of online betting and gambling addiction, especially among young people.
In 2025, inquiries about compulsive gambling to Línea 141, the free telephone guidance and support service of Argentina’s National Secretariat of Comprehensive Drug Policies (Sedronar), increased by 27% in Argentina.