Latin American Poker Tour Rocks Argentina

A recent report by Research and Markets looking into Latin America’s internet gambling industry revealed that Argentina’s gaming industry generates $4.5bn a year, making it the third largest gambling market in the region after Costa Rica and Brazil. Most players living outside of Latin America, however, hear little about casino and internet gambling in Argentina.

This weekend, all of that is changing. The city of Rosario, Argentina, is playing host to the PokerStars Latin America Poker Tour Grand Final. This epic poker event is wrapping up the third season of the LAPT in style.

The event is happening at Casino Rosario. Things kicked off on the 22nd with a massive welcome party to greet the hundreds of poker pros who have been arriving by the truckload, ready to fork out the $5000 buy-in. It’s a poker event unlike anything the city has ever seen.

This year’s LAPT kicked off last year in Playa Conchal, Costa Rica. From there the poker tour moved through Punta del Este, Uruguay and Lima, Peru. Then after a stop in Florianopolis, Brazil, it made its way to Argentina where the final battle is now taking place.

The first place winner of this event, which is set to finish off on Monday, will receive between 26% and 28% of the prize pool, depending on how many players show up. Other prizes will be paid out down to 56th place, with 3% of the pool held back to pay tournament staff. According to Argentinian gambling laws and the Administracion Federal de Ingresos Publicos, any non-resident winners will be required to pay 31.5% tax on their net profit from the event (prize less buy-in).

Offline and online poker in Argentina are both becoming increasingly more popular in Argentina. Online poker in the country had a few rough years recently as the government tried to ban the use of foreign internet gambling sites, but as this PokerStars event shows, officials seem to be loosening their stance on internet gambling.