Chile: Supreme Court orders ISPs to block illegal house sites
The Third Chamber of the Supreme Court accepted a protection appeal filed by Lotería de Concepción and ordered the companies Claro, Entel, GTD, Telefónica, WOM, and VTR to block betting websites that do not have official permits. The ruling overturned the previous decision by the Court of Appeals and emphasized that telecommunications operators “cannot transmit or promote gambling” unless the provider proves a valid administrative authorization.
The highest court reasoned that, in Chile, gambling is prohibited as a general rule and is only lawful through express authorization by law. It cited as support the Civil Code, the Penal Code, and the Constitution, indicating that only entities such as Lotería de Concepción, Polla Chilena, Teletrak, and authorized racetracks and casinos have specific regulatory frameworks. In the online realm, only Lotería, Polla, and Teletrak are authorized to operate certain games.
The ruling also addressed the principle of net neutrality provided in the General Telecommunications Law, highlighting that providers cannot block legal content, which translates into the duty to block those that are illegal. In this regard, it deemed the operators’ refusal to comply with Lotería’s request as “arbitrary and illegal,” given that the challenged platforms operated outside the current regulations and affected the petitioner’s property rights over its exclusive concession.
In its analysis, the Court reviewed reports from the Superintendence of Gambling Casinos, which since 2020 has forwarded more than 190 records of irregular platforms to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and from Subtel, which clarified it does not have the authority to classify content, although it acknowledged that in 2023 it instructed the blocking of 23 sites following a previous judicial ruling. Polla Chilena intervened as a third-party supporter backing the blocking request.
The resolution (Case No. 18,080-2025) was adopted on September 29, 2025, with two dissenting votes — Minister Mireya López and associate lawyer Carlos Urquieta — who defended the initial decision of the Court of Appeals. From now on, internet providers must implement effective and permanent blocks on the domains indicated by Lotería de Concepción, unless the betting operators prove legal authorization in Chile.
Tags: Chile, regulation, betting site blocking, iGaming Chile