A Chile online betting ban gained ground on 9 November when the Senate Economy Committee approved two amendments to outlaw the platforms, setting aside President José Antonio Kast’s plan to license and tax private operators. The texts set different penalties.
The committee’s chair, Socialist Party (PS) Senator Gastón Saavedra, said the two texts would be merged at the committee’s next session, according to CNN Chile.
Chile online betting ban texts
Senate President Paulina Núñez and fellow National Renewal (RN) Senator María José Gatica tabled the first amendment. It closes the door to a new licensing market and sets prison terms of up to 15 years and fines of up to 10,000 UTM (about CLP 721m) in aggravated cases, such as deliberately targeting minors or carrying on after a final court blocking order.
The Núñez and Gatica text also provides for permanent court-ordered blocking of sites, measures on payment services and limits on advertising tied to illegal operation. Games authorised under their own special laws are not affected.
Saavedra and Broad Front (FA) Senator Diego Ibáñez tabled the second amendment. It punishes those who profit from online betting platforms with prison and fines and requires the blocking of access and payment channels, without the 15-year ceiling of the RN text.
How the committee voted
Saavedra, Ibáñez and RN Senator Manuel José Ossandón backed both amendments. Senator Matías Walker abstained on the Núñez and Gatica text and voted against the Saavedra and Ibáñez text, which passed by three votes to one after Senator Paulina Vodanovic abstained.
The government’s licensing plan
The Kast government presented its own amendments to the Economy Committee on 27 October, Emol reported. Undersecretary of Finance Sebastián Vallebona defended the text before senators.
The plan set five-year licences for operators set up as Chilean closed corporations with a .cl domain, minimum capital of 5,000 UTM and an annual fee of 1,000 UTM (CLP 72.2m) per licence. Platforms already active would get a transitional permit for 3,000 UTM if they had paid the digital VAT owed for the previous 36 months.
On tax, the government replaced the bill’s 20% levy on gross gaming revenue and its 2% sport and 1% responsible gambling levies with 19% VAT on the monthly difference between bets and prizes paid, plus an extra 3% on the same base. The Ministry of Finance put the effective burden at 22%, against a ceiling of about 38% in the earlier text.
The amendments also banned all advertising by betting platforms, licensed or not, and gave the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos (SCJ) a list of unlicensed sites that payment providers would have to refuse and internet providers would have to block. The government argued that international experience shows no successful cases of an outright ban.
Next steps
The bill, Boletín 14.838-03, was tabled in March 2022, passed the Chamber of Deputies in December 2023 and was approved in general by the Senate in August 2025. In May we covered Chile’s casino revenue and the illegal market.
The Economy Committee will merge the two prohibition texts at its next session. The bill then goes to the Senate Finance Committee before a floor vote. In Brazil, a separate ban is being fought in court, with the Supreme Court suspending lower-court cases. More on the region is in our LatAm coverage.
Source: Senate of Chile
