Chile orders 42 betting sites blocked via DNS
Chilean internet providers have 48 hours, counted from the moment they receive notification, to block access to 42 online betting and gambling sites. The instruction came from the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications, which relies on a list sent by the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos, and the block must be implemented via DNS.
The measure does not stem from an administrative decision but from the courts. It executes what the Supreme Court and the Santiago Court of Appeals ruled regarding a protection order filed by Lotería de Concepción against telecommunications companies.
The procedure is structured in a chain with separate roles. First, Lotería de Concepción, or other plaintiffs, identify the domains, subdomains, and mirror sites associated with each platform. Then, the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos verifies and legally certifies which ones belong to unauthorized informal operators. Only with this endorsement does the Undersecretariat formally notify the telephone companies, attaching the domain annex, and that's when the deadline begins. The affected companies are Movistar, Claro, Entel, VTR, WOM, and GTD, which must also prove compliance to the Santiago Court of Appeals and inform the Undersecretariat of the exact date and time they executed the block.
Romina Garrido, the Undersecretary of the area, framed the order as strict compliance with judicial rulings and the current regulatory framework, and described the technical response as a coordinated solution aimed at people's digital security. Her demand to the telephone companies was to act as quickly as possible to block access to online casinos operating outside the law.
The scheme does not end with this batch either. The Undersecretariat clarified that the same procedure will be applied to new domains, subdomains, or mirror sites that appear, provided they are specific, verifiable, and previously validated by the Superintendency.
The block comes while the tax treatment of these same platforms remains in dispute. Luis Cordero, former Minister of Security and Justice and now an external legal advisor to the Chilean Association of Casinos and Gaming, stated in an interview with El Mercurio that the resolution by which the Internal Revenue Service established a mechanism to register and collect taxes from online sportsbooks is illegal. His argument is that the tax authority overstepped its powers and that, by setting up this procedure administratively, it effectively regularizes platforms that are not authorized.
This is the core of the Chilean conflict. While the judicial path pushes for blocking access to unlicensed operators, another branch of the State has opened a window for them to pay taxes, and the licensed casino industry argues that these two signals cannot coexist.
Tags: Subsecretariat of Telecommunications, Superintendency of Gaming Casinos, Concepción Lottery, Romina Garrido, Luis Cordero