APAL: Polla Chilena seeks to eliminate iGaming competition
Lawyer Carlos Baeza, spokesperson for the Association of Online Betting Platforms (aPAL), testified before the 16th Civil Court of Santiago in the context of a process for alleged unfair competition and pointed directly at Polla Chilena de Beneficencia. According to the lawyer, the public company promotes judicial and administrative actions with a concrete objective: to remove private platforms offering online betting from the Chilean market.
The central accusation
Baeza was emphatic in his intervention. He maintained that Polla is not against online betting, but against competition in that segment, a distinction that, in his interpretation, explains the litigious strategy deployed by the state lottery in recent years. For the spokesperson, the official discourse that automatically associates private iGaming with illegality lacks normative and factual support, because in Chile there is no norm that prohibits all games of chance.
The lawyer also recalled that the Public Ministry decided not to pursue the lawsuits filed by different actors against online betting platforms for alleged illegal gambling. This precedent, in his opinion, reinforces the idea that Polla's legal arguments are not sustained in court and respond to an economic struggle rather than a genuine interest in protecting the consumer.
The state lottery's position
Macarena Carvallo, former president of Polla Chilena, also testified at the same hearing, denying having made statements specifically directed against Latam Wings, the plaintiff platform in this case. Carvallo assured that her public interventions always referred to online betting in general terms and acknowledged that during her tenure, a campaign was disseminated presenting Polla as "the only legal and Chilean sportsbook."
Former general manager Agustín Dupré also testified and specified that Polla only promoted three legal actions against betting platforms, in addition to those directed against telecommunications companies that allowed access to online sites. This figure contrasts with the perception that exists within the private sector, where a permanent siege by the state lottery is reported in regulatory offices, in Congress, and in the justice system.
The case is part of a region where several countries are discussing how to coexist with state lotteries that also compete for the online gambling pie. Argentina resolved the issue with provincial schemes that coexist with private operators, Brazil has just enabled a federal market with open licenses, and Colombia maintains a model regulated by Coljuegos where Lotería de Bogotá retains its historical role. The fundamental question, in Chile and the rest of the region, is whether the State should operate the business or limit itself to regulating it.
Tags: Chile, Santiago, Chile betting regulation, Polla Chilena, aPAL, iGaming Chile