Chile’s Senate Economy Committee approved two proposals seeking to prohibit online betting platforms, by three votes to one with one abstention. The proposals will be combined at the committee’s next session; the vote does not enact a ban, and the government supports a licensing system instead.
Operators face competing legislative proposals: a prohibition with penalties and blocks, or a government licensing framework.
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Chile’s Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego defended court-ordered blocks on online betting sites in submissions to the courts. Latamwin challenged the measures, while Epicbet disputed the scope of the blocking orders and asked the Supreme Court to review the admissibility of its appeal after a first-instance rejection. Subtel said it carries out court orders and does not decide which internet content should be blocked.
Chile's Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) defended court-ordered blocks on online betting sites in submissions to the courts. The blocks were ordered against dozens of domains linked to platforms operating without authorisation in Chile, with internet providers instructed to apply DNS blocking. Latamwin, owned by W&C N.V., filed a recurso de protección against the SCJ and the Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel). Epicbet, operated by Overcooked Limitada, challenged the scope of the blocking orders and asked the Supreme Court to review the admissibility of its appeal after the Corte de Apelaciones rejected its first-instance filing.
The Santiago Court of Appeals has set a five-stage DNS-blocking process to enforce a Supreme Court judgment against unauthorised online gambling services. Lotería de Concepción or Polla Chilena de Beneficencia will report suspected domains to the SCJ, which validates them before SUBTEL notifies telecoms firms. Polla Chilena president Felipe Dalgalarrando welcomed the decision, while aPAL questioned the ruling's scope.
It was reported that Santiago’s appeals court set a DNS blocking procedure for unauthorised gambling domains. SCJ will validate reported sites before Subtel instructs telecom providers, with provisions to correct errors.
Chile’s executive granted the online betting bill its highest legislative urgency on 7 May, requiring the Senate to discuss it within 15 days, according to reports. The proposal would establish licensing, tax, compliance and enforcement rules; it remains under legislative consideration.
Chile’s Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling that had treated an order to block online betting sites as fulfilled, reopening proceedings against telecommunications companies. It said the blocking order remained incomplete and sent the case back to the Santiago Court of Appeals to take further steps, including addressing mirror sites.