Chile - Online Gaming Focus
WARMING to ONLINE
While online gambling reform has been a growing possibility for some time in Chile we now have a much clearer idea as to the form it will take if approved. Reform had already been put forward by the previous administration. However it has been a long and difficult road to regulation and it wasn’t until January 2023 that the Undersecretary of Finance announced that the Executive Branch would finally push forward with new rules. In fact, 2023 was an extremely busy year in terms of debate and the shaping of new regulations.
Te objective of the initiative (bill 14838) was to address the regulatory gap, create a competitive market while allowing for an attractive online gambling offer for users. New rules are also aimed at protecting the health and safety of players, providing transparency over the sector and increasing tax revenue. It is projected that the industry could generate more than US$50 million in revenue for the state annually. During this process the government’s position on the legality of online gambling has been clear. According to the Ministry of Finance by law gambling is only permitted in casinos, via lottery and sports betting products authorised by state owned lottery company Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, the Concepción Lottery, (present in Chile since 1921) and horse racing.
WORK ON THE BILL IN THE LOWER HOUSE Online gambling reform was originally put forward by the previous administration on March 7, 2022. However the current administration decided that the project was inadequate. As a result it created two working groups to look into the issue and work on regulation. Te Related Services Working Group, incorporated various
entities such as the Internal Revenue Service, Financial Markets Commission, Financial Analysis Unit, and Superintendency of Casinos of Games (SJC), and was responsible for coordinating and overseeing the implementation and execution of services and measures related to the law. Te second working group consisted of advisors to the Members of the Chamber's Economy Committee. Te first set of amendments was presented on June 12. Tese
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amendments aimed to better ensure the balance of the bill, maintaining the regulatory model proposed by the previous administration namely a semi-open market, whereby operators would be able to offer their services once licensed. Tis model would allow for private operators but under specific regulations and controls set by the government allowing for competition within the market while ensuring that certain standards and safeguards were in place to protect consumers while maintaining the integrity of the industry. Te second and third sets of amendments, presented on
September 12 and October 3, were related to the prosecution of illegal gambling and transitory measures, respectively. Tese sets of amendments were further discussed in a meeting of advisory parliamentary advisors.
WHAT LAWMAKERS HEARD DURING THE COMMISSION’S HEARINGS Prior to the general vote in the commission, a significant number of public and private institutions participated in hearings giving the Economic Commission the opportunity to hear from a large number of experts who offered not only their own analysis of the current situation but also offered suggestions on how they thought the online sector could be regulated. Tose appearing before the commission included the Subsecretary of Chile’s Undersecretary of Telecommunications (Subtel), Te Director of the Chile’s Financial Analysis Unit as well as Te Director and Deputy Director of Chile’s Internal Revenue Service. In addition lawmakers heard from the Chilean Association of Gaming Casinos (ACCJ) and the Director of the National Consumer Service (Sernac) amongst others.
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