APAL says Subtel blocked domains outside court ruling
The industry's reproach to the latest Chilean blocking order does not dispute the substance but rather the scope. The Chilean Association of Online Betting Platforms (aPAL) argued that several of the 37 addresses that the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel) ordered to be blocked are not written in either of the two texts that originated the procedure, neither in what was resolved by the Supreme Court nor in what was ordered by the Court of Appeals.
Its argument is one of method. For the entity, complying with a judicial decision also implies staying within the limits set by the court, so an administrative act issued to execute it cannot reach domains that were never part of the original file.
This is not the first time this has been raised. The association had already warned of the same issue when the 42 sites from the previous block were taken down, and it maintains that the new list repeats the problem.
The instruction was communicated on Monday and obliges Entel, Movistar, Claro, GTD, WOM, and VTR to execute the DNS blocks within 48 hours of notification. The list came from the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos (SCJ), which previously validated each domain, subdomain, and mirror site. From the official side, the response is that the entire mechanism is supported by what was resolved by the Supreme Court and the Santiago Court of Appeals, and that DNS blocking was chosen precisely because it acts on individualized addresses and lowers the risk of affecting legitimate services.
The second front of the complaint is fiscal. aPAL connected the extent of the blocks with what the treasury expects to collect from Digital VAT and warned that extending the measure to domains unrelated to the resolutions could erode those estimates.
Behind all of this is a larger request. The association insisted that Chile still lacks a complete framework to regulate online activity, and listed what it should contain: certainty for operators, effective oversight, safeguards for players, and a defined tax burden. Its summary was that no specific block replaces that fundamental discussion. It also stated that it remains willing to work with the Government and Congress on this regulation.
Monday's list was not published address by address, but Subtel itself reported that the domains, subdomains, and mirrors correspond to Betano, Betsson, Rojabet, Estelarbet, Betcris, Kto Bet, 1xbet, Juega en Línea Chile, Marathonbet, Betway, Betfair, Betsala, Bet365, Mi Casino, and Sporting Bet—fifteen brands for 37 addresses, because a single platform can have several. aPAL brings together platforms that operate in Chile without a specific framework for online activity and that pay Digital VAT, while Congress has been discussing a bill to regulate the sector for years.
Tags: Chilean Online Betting Platforms Association, domain blocking in Chile, Undersecretariat of Telecommunications, online gambling regulation