ES
IT
PT
DE
NL
Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) has told the country’s competition tribunal that the bidding rules governing the Casino de Viña del Mar tender do not create barriers to competition, dealing a setback to the operator group that triggered the review.
The submission was filed with the Tribunal for the Defence of Free Competition (TDLC), which is considering a non-contentious consultation brought by Inversiones Marina del Sol over whether the technical bases established by the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos (SCJ) for the Iquique, Coquimbo, Pucón and Viña del Mar tenders comply with Chile’s competition law, DL 211.
Marina del Sol argued that special conditions authorised under the third transitional article of the Casino Law went beyond what was necessary to achieve the public policy objectives established under the regulatory framework.
The disputed conditions include a guaranteed minimum economic bid, the use of a predetermined site on municipal land, construction or expansion of tourism infrastructure, a deadline for installing equipment and beginning operations, rules governing the transfer of assets to the municipality at the end of the concession, and a requirement to retain 100% of the existing gaming workforce.
The FNE said its review focused on whether those requirements discriminated between bidders or weakened competition in the permit-granting process. In its submission, the prosecutor said the conditions were authorised under the Casino Law, applied equally to potential bidders and were known before offers were submitted.
“It was generally observed that these are requirements incorporated within the framework authorised by the Casino Law, applicable equally to all potential bidders and known to them before submitting their offers, without altering their relative position,” the FNE said.
The dispute follows Enjoy’s early surrender of the Viña del Mar concession, approved in August 2025, with the casino now operating on an interim basis under Casinos de Chile, a company formed by creditors BTG Pactual, Avla Seguros and WEG Capital.
The TDLC briefly suspended the tender process in June before lifting the measure on 8 July, allowing bidders to submit technical and economic offers on 11 August at the SCJ’s Santiago offices.
The FNE’s submission follows amendments made by the SCJ to the tender bases in April, which adjusted ownership disclosure requirements, bidder qualification criteria, investment thresholds and bid guarantees for the Viña del Mar, Iquique, Coquimbo and Pucón concessions. The regulator also moved the deadline for technical and economic bids from 24 July to 11 August.
The TDLC will now continue its review of Marina del Sol’s consultation before determining whether any changes to the tender framework are required.
