Legislation
Chile – Online bill will block operators who have been present in the market
By James - 2 October 2023
The commission that will regulate online betting platforms now under discussion in the Economy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies has released more details of the bill including planned restrictions on licenses. The bill will ban any online olatforms which have been present in the market over the previous twelve months.
According to article 13 of the bill: “The Superintendency will reject applications for an operating license when any of the following circumstances occur: having operated a betting platform without the proper operating license, or without the certification that authorizes it to operate in accordance with this law, or advertised or offered its services in Chile in the last 12 months prior to the request.”
For these purposes the services of a betting platform that has been offered in Chile will be verified using certain criteria. Online operators will not be allowed to offer their services if they have allowed the crediting of user accounts or the payment of bets in Chile and if they have advertised or promoted their services locally.
This will be far reaching as the ban will extend to online betting platform which have operated under a name that has used references to Chile such as historical or public figures. It will also mean that online betting sites which have a presence in Chilean football will be banned as well as any operators that have sponsored “people, entities and/or events that take place in the national territory.”
Other restrictions will also apply including the use of “any of the payment methods authorized by the Financial Market Commission” or if the sports betting platform has facilitated “transfers and/or national bank deposits as a means of payment.”
Further restrictions will also be in place regarding companies that have offered their services in other jurisdictions without being authorised to do so. In order to make this work the gaming board (SJC) will need to keep a list of jurisdictions that require an authorization and may request assistance from the organizations that supervise and regulate online gambling in their respective countries.
The Undersecretary of the Treasury, Heidi Berner welcomed the news saying that the bill was “totally consistent and in line with the Supreme Court ruling, as are other regulations proposed in this bill.”
Last month Chile’s highest court accepted an appeal from lottery operator Polla Chilena de Beneficencia and ordered the blocking of online betting platforms. According to the resolution, these websites “carry out gambling activities within the borders of Chile, without legal authorization or from any national tax authority, which is why they are illegal according to national regulations.” Although in the first instance the appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals of Concepción, the country’s highest court reversed the decision and ordered the blocking of sports betting sites offered via Mundo Pacífico.
