Chilean Senators Push Online Gambling Ban as Kast Government Files Licensing Plan

Three Chilean senators, including Senate President Paulina Núñez, have filed amendments that would ban private online gambling operators, setting up a clash with President José Antonio Kast's government, which on 26 October 2026 proposed licensing them instead. All three texts amend the same bill, Boletín 14.838-03, which the Senate Economy Committee began reviewing article by article on 27 October 2026.

The prohibition proposals are not new bills. They are indicaciones sustitutivas, substitute amendments that would replace the licensing model with a ban. The filing deadline, first set for 16 October, was pushed to noon on 26 October at the government's request, BioBioChile reported, so the Executive could finish its own package.

Three competing models

The committee now has three different answers to the same question on its desk.

Saavedra called the government's text "extremely lax" and said that "if there is no will to regulate, it is better to prohibit," according to Chócale. Núñez argued that closing one website achieves little "if the next day" its owners can open another.

BioBioChile reported that Núñez's text would also sanction bettors and close operators 90 days after the law takes effect. GamblingNews reported that the Saavedra and Ibáñez text sets prison terms of six months to three years and treats any platform that accepts bets from Chile as operating there. The Chilean coverage reviewed for this story does not confirm those two details.

What the government wants

The Executive's 114-page text, signed by Kast and several ministers, was presented to the committee by Finance Undersecretary Sebastián Vallebona. He told senators that experience shows absolute prohibition does not work.

Its main points:

• Licenses: five years, with an annual fee of 1,000 UTM (unidades tributarias mensuales, Chile's inflation-indexed tax unit), about $77,000 according to NEXT.io.
• Tax: a 3% gambling levy on top of 19% VAT, for a combined 22%.
• Marketing: a ban on all advertising and restrictions on bonuses.
• Protection: a user registry, deposit and time limits, and biometric checks moved to regulations under article 18.
• Enforcement: fines, license revocation and blocking of illegal sites and payment methods; operators active without a license in the past year generally excluded unless they reach a transition deal.
• Name: the bill would become a law on "regulation of online betting, child protection and prevention of gambling addiction."

Senators spent most of the first session on the tax. Matías Walker (Demócratas) called it low but said he would rather regulate than ban. Ibáñez objected that online platforms, unlike land-based casinos, would pay nothing to municipalities and that biometrics would only be optional. Saavedra asked for a "level playing field" with physical casinos. Industry group aPAL backed regulation but opposed the advertising and bonus bans, warning they would make it harder to move players from illegal sites. NEXT.io reported similar concerns from the Agrupación de iGaming Responsable.

Where the bill stands

The bill has been slow. Gamingo covered the Chamber of Deputies' overhaul of the online gambling bill and its proposed responsible gambling tax, along with an earlier push to restrict sports betting advertising. After the Senate vote in August 2025, the bill went to the Economy and Finance committees. The current round of amendments is before the Economy Committee, which has not set a vote date.

The role of the SCJ and the courts

The Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ), which supervises Chile's land-based casinos, would oversee licensed online operators under the government model and be renamed to cover betting and games of chance. Its role has included consumer issues around sports betting for years.

The courts have already moved. On 30 September 2025 the Supreme Court's Third Chamber ruled 3–2 for Lotería de Concepción, ordering Claro, Entel, GTD, Movistar, WOM and VTR to block illegal betting sites. According to Diario Financiero, it relied on an SCJ report that only Polla, Lotería, Teletrak, racetracks and casinos are authorized to offer games of chance. It came months after prosecutors closed a criminal probe without charges, when Chile ended its legal case against foreign betting operators, and the operators' group cited that closure in calling the ruling a setback.

Under that ruling, Subtel, the telecoms undersecretariat, ordered DNS blocking of 42 domains on 1 September 2026, including Betano, Coolbet, 1xBet, Stake, Betsson and bet365. The SCJ checks which domains belong to unauthorized operators before Subtel notifies providers, Emol reported. In March 2026 the Santiago Court of Appeals had rejected Lotería's request for more aggressive, permanent blocking of mirror sites, saying it went beyond current law, according to Yogonet. That gap is the one Núñez's amendment is meant to close.

Why it matters

The two lottery operators have pushed hardest against offshore sites, through the courts and, in Polla's case, a 2024 damages claim of about $291 million against six telecoms, according to Focus Gaming News. Núñez's text would turn that position into law. The government and the operators argue that a ban would keep players on unlicensed sites that already reach Chileans. NEXT.io reports that 39 offshore sites have registered to pay VAT. The Chilean debate also follows moves elsewhere in the region, from Brazil to a Buenos Aires proposal to ban online gambling.

Whichever model the committee picks, it must then go to the Senate floor and back to the Chamber of Deputies, which approved a licensing text.

Status reviewed on 29 October 2026. Amendment details are from Chilean press coverage of the Senate filings; the indicaciones document itself was not independently reviewed. More legislation news and Latam & Caribbean coverage.