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“I used to bet on online games and was able to stop a few months ago, but I know both schoolmates and Friends who are still trapped” says Francisco Mikulik, 16. When he learned about the Financial Education Olympics, which could address gambling addiction, he shared the invitation with María Laura Centurión, his accounting information systems teacher at Secondary School No. 9 of El Calafate, in Santa Cruz.
After Francisco spoke to the teacher, and although they will not be studying these topics until next year in Financial and Tax Management, the boys from 4°B from tomorrow’s shift competed along with two fifths from both shifts. “During the Olympics, issues that concern us, especially teenagers addicted to gambling, were discussed, and we immediately became aware of what was happening,” recalls Francisco.
The first part consisted of asynchronous teaching activities on a virtual campus, after which the three school teams reached the semi-finals. However, in the synchronous questions, the fourth graders were more skillful and faster and reached the final among 15 groups from different parts of the country. The organizers, Junior Achievement Argentina and Mercado Pago, in collaboration with the Startup In the educational Lufindo they were divided into three groups of five schools each, which worked independently on three topics: Online betting, digital scams and saving money.
“Fortunately, we had gambling addiction, a very worrying problem because a lot of teenagers are betting money from their virtual wallets and so on.” It not only affects your economy, but also your mental health, your academic performance, and your social interactions and with your family.. “We all know the topic of betting,” says Mateo Fernández, 17, a member of the winning team with the work “End of the Game”.
Before starting to develop the plan and working on a countershift so as not to lose lessons, they conducted a survey with 100 young people from El Calafate on this problem. “The numbers were terrible: 40% admitted to betting. And 74% of them did it to win money, 35% for fun, 27% to look older and 20% for the love of football (you could vote for more than one option). Of all, 60% played in the casino and 40% played football. In addition, four out of ten admitted to betting online at least once,” says Mateo.
“Finally, we have presented a community prevention plan on online gambling addiction, with awareness campaigns, participatory and leisure activities in school and the community, as well as training for teachers, doctors, psychologists and parents on the subject. We have also proposed offering support on the telephone number “We play for you 24 hours a day” and organizing financial education courses and workshops on entrepreneurship with career options such as cooking, computers, artificial intelligence, aesthetics, sewing and knitting,” explains Francisco, who has just been elected standard bearer 2026.
The work of Francisco Mikulik, Mateo Fernández, Federico Tokumori Matayoshi, Thiago Romero, Liara Ferrero, Fabrizio Ibañez Ruiz and Carlos Agustín Yurquina Cruz was the Olympic champion in his topic. The children brought 20 new computers to school and each received their own tablet.
Another idea that the young people from Santa Cruz added was a app what they called “Grab the Shovel.” The aim is to connect young people who want to make money by working (instead of playing online) with local adults who need to solve problems such as mowing the lawn, washing cars, dog sitting and walking, running errands, babysitting, school support classes and organizing children’s parties.
“Before the class ended, the children presented these topics at the school’s annual fair and many students came to address their concerns. The topic of money is very important for them as it is a tool to gain their autonomy and is part of their ‘adult life’,” explains María Laura Centurión, teacher of Human Resources, Financial and Tax Management, SME Management and Accounting Information Systems in the Economics and Administration section of the school, responsible for the group of three groups of students who presented at the school the Olympic Games.
“Although the proposals were theoretical and dizzying at first, we intend to put them into practice next school year. After winning the Olympics, there were many repercussions, Teachers from other schools also became aware of this problem and contacted us. On the one hand, the boys from the Industrial School and the Upsala School, where they went to report their experiences, suggested that we seek advice in compiling it app “Take the shovel.” And with the recognition of the Santa Cruz Lottery by the Provincial Legislature and Gambling Prevention, they have also encouraged us to put into practice all the proposals in collaboration with other institutions so that the final result is more inclusive,” adds Centurión, who studied as an accountant at UBA.
The topic of online betting is increasingly worrying Argentine teenagers and young people, as men aged 13 and over are already having their first experiences on football betting sites. In addition, 47% of children between 9 and 17 years old are aware of digital betting platforms and 67% have a friend who bets, according to the “Kids Online Argentina 2025” survey by Unicef. “Half of those surveyed want to earn money quickly and easily, only 30% do it for fun,” complains educator Javier Quesada from Unicef.
“The Financial Education Olympiad is a federal proposal to provide concrete tools so that young people can make informed decisions about their economic lives. More than that.” 6,500 students from 309 schools across the country learned about budgeting, saving, credit, investing, digital security and responsible money managementthrough practical content and challenges that connect them to real situations from their daily lives. In the final, teams had to apply these insights to develop creative solutions to three problems that greatly affect youth today: online betting, digital fraud and the need to integrate more financial education in schools and at home,” reports Bernardo Brugnoli, Director of Junior Achievement Argentina.
The other winning projects belong to the Technical Faculty of the Werner Von Siemens University in Villa Ballester and the Escuela del Encuentro in Quilmes, both in the greater Buenos Aires area.
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