Chile proposes five-year licenses without advertising or bonuses
The most impactful decision in the Chilean bill is not how much must be paid, but rather what cannot be done with the license once obtained. The amendments submitted by the Executive Branch within the deadline set by the Senate prohibit online betting platforms from advertising, "with or without an operating license," meaning that obtaining authorization no longer grants what it usually does: the right to legally promote oneself. On top of this is a ban on all bonuses and promotional offers, leaving authorized operators stripped of player acquisition tools.
The 114-page document is titled the Bill for the Regulation of Online Betting, Child Protection, and Problem Gambling Prevention, and bears the signature of President José Antonio Kast alongside ministers Jorge Quiroz, Daniel Mas, May Chomalí, Fernando Rabat, and Claudio Alvarado.
The market entry structure is the most straightforward component. Platforms must apply for a five-year license with an annual fee of 1,000 UTM, and once operational, will pay a 19 percent VAT on the tax base calculated by deducting paid-out winnings from total wagers within the month—that is, on gross gaming revenue (GGR). On top of that amount, the text adds what it defines as an additional tax rate of 3 percent. It is worth noting that the wording leaves room for two interpretations with vastly different outcomes: if that 3 percent applies to the same base, the total tax burden reaches 22 percent of gross gaming revenue; if calculated on the VAT amount, it remains at 19.57 percent. The difference between the two interpretations represents nearly two and a half percentage points in margin, and it is the first point the industry will want clarified.
The market access chapter combines a penalty with an exit route. Applications will be rejected if the company, or an affiliated party, has operated, promoted, or offered services in Chile without a license during the preceding 12 months, and the text specifically defines what constitutes having operated: using a .cl domain, paying for sponsorships, or contracting with Chilean payment methods. However, this cooling-off period does not apply to those entering through a transitional regime who pay an enabling fee of 3,000 UTM and are up to date with Digital VAT. This fee equals three years of the annual levy, meaning entry via the transitional route costs three times the price of a single year's license.
The amnesty represents the other side of the same mechanism. Anyone who invoiced under the digital VAT framework prior to the law will have to declare the taxes corresponding to the 36 months preceding that declaration. Once payment is made, the text states that all civil, criminal, and administrative liabilities stemming from past non-compliance with the tax authority will be fully extinguished. Read alongside the previous paragraph, the design is explicit: the state offers a clean slate in exchange for retroactive tax collection, and the natural targets are the twenty-five international operators that have already registered with the Servicio de Impuestos Internos over the course of this year.
In terms of advertising, the scope of the ban is the detail that makes it enforceable. Liability extends to whoever commissions or contracts the advertisement, designs it, produces it, broadcasts it or enables its release, acts as an intermediary in the booking, or carries it out in person, thereby spreading responsibility across the entire chain rather than concentrating it solely on the operator. A transitional article grants a one-year grace period for active contracts held by platforms operating under a transitional license, though solely outside the programming time slot designated for the protection of minors.
The ban on bonuses is drafted to close the most obvious loophole. It does not only cover bonuses and promotional offers, but any benefit—in cash or convertible to cash—that is not a payout and aims to acquire users, retain them, or encourage betting, applying even when no advertising is distributed in relation to it. In other words, it bans the incentive itself rather than just its promotion.
The remainder of the package governs the relationship with the player. Every account will be created pre-configured in safe gambling mode, with deposit limits per period to be determined by the Responsible Gambling Regulations, alongside connection limits per session and per day. Strong authentication mechanisms will be required, including biometric verification, and the excluded persons register will encompass individuals deprived of liberty, those listed on the National Registry of Child Support Debtors, and self-excluded individuals. This third category is uncommon in the region and links gambling restrictions to compliance with family support obligations—a policy intersection not previously seen in Latin American legislation. Athletes, coaching staff, shareholders, and executives of professional sports organizations will also be barred from placing bets, specifically within the sport in question.
There is also a concession toward land-based casinos that should be viewed in light of the demands made public this week by the Asociación Chilena de Casinos de Juego. The bill allows brick-and-mortar venues to offer platform-based betting to the public within their facilities, but only through services agreed upon with an operating company holding an active license and certification. Put differently, traditional casinos can access the digital vertical as commercial partners of a licensee, not as license holders themselves. The framework is rounded out by a Problem Gambling Prevention and Treatment Fund managed by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development, as well as Responsible Gambling Regulations to be issued by the Ministry of Finance and reviewed every four years.
Chile has been debating online betting regulations without an enacted legal framework for years, while the digital channel has operated under tax and judicial pressure: the Servicio de Impuestos Internos required foreign platforms to register under the simplified tax regime and mandated VAT withholding on payment methods, while courts ordered domain blockades that Subtel enforces amid legal challenges. The UTM (Unidad Tributaria Mensual) is an inflation-adjusted monthly tax unit Chile uses to define fines, levies, and tax obligations, ensuring that the amounts specified in the bill remain indexed to inflation without requiring amendments to the law.
Tags: Chile, regulation, advertising, licensing