Legislation
Chile – Delay likely for online gambling bill
By James - 14 November 2022
Delays for the online gambling bill in the lower house look likely as the lawmakers wait to hear from the executive over wider tax reform proposals.
The Economy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies was expected to deal with the bill put forward by lawmakers in August. The legislative initiative, was presented by the previous government, and stated that among its main points, that operators would remain under the supervision of a new regulatory board with specific taxes of 20 percent on gross income imposed on operators, 15 per cent on users and license fees for both general and special licenses.
According to estimates the bill could generate around US$50m a year.
The Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, stated that before processing the online gaming law, it was necessary to make some changes to the initiative. According to local media, the purpose of the bill was to give lawmakers more time so that it could be considered within the next tax reform bill which isn’t scheduled until the end of March 2023.
According to the undersecretary of Finance, Claudia Sanhueza, the pause in the debate would allow the bill to be examined in depth.
Sanhueza also stated that the objective of the government was to address the content of the project put forward by the previous administration so that the treatment of crimes related to online gaming industry could also be covered as part of wider laws facilitating oversight.
In July President of the Chamber’s Economy Commission Daniel Manouchehri announced that online gambling legislation would be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies early in August. Lawmakers could either consider an online gambling bill put forward under the previous administration of Sebastián Piñera or could look at any new bill handed down by the new executive branch. The Economy Commission ultimately delayed discussions over online gambling legislation after it received a request from the executive branch in August. The request was made by Representatives of the Ministry of Finance headed by Minister Mario Marcel who asked the parliamentary working group to delay the debate on the bill for thirty days. The Ministry said it needed more time so that it could present its own improvements to the bill and cover the issue within the scope of tax reform and other government initiatives.
