Hacienda shields the SII with VAT on online bookmakers
The Chilean government closed ranks behind the Internal Revenue Service (SII) amidst the controversy over the resolution that obliges foreign online betting platforms to register and declare digital VAT in the country. The support was personally given by the Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, who defended that the agency acted within its legal powers and ruled out that it was a disguised regularization of the sector.
Quiroz stressed that the SII is an independent entity, governed by its director, and that its natural duty is to collect taxes on taxable events, without ruling on the underlying legality of the activity. The clarification aimed to clear up doubts about a possible conflict between the administrative decision and the substantive debate still being processed in Congress, where the bill that would regulate Chilean iGaming is being discussed.
The message from the Minister of Finance was joined by the biminister of Interior and Segegob, Claudio Alvarado, who insisted that the legalization of an activity such as online betting can only be defined by a law of the Republic. For the ruling party, taxing platforms is not equivalent to legalizing them, but rather recognizes an economic fact that is already occurring and that the State cannot continue to ignore.
The political support comes in an uncomfortable scenario. The opposition accuses the SII of overriding Congress and contradicting a Supreme Court ruling from last September that declared the operations of unauthorized platforms illegal. Senators from different benches summoned the agency's director, Jorge Trujillo, and the Chilean Association of Casinos and Games described the measure as a disguised regulation in favor of operators acting outside the law.
The backdrop is the fight for control of the regulatory narrative. While the Executive tries to separate the tax dimension from the legislative discussion, critics argue that collecting VAT on an activity considered illicit gives de facto legitimacy to foreign operators. Pressure on the SegPres increased after it became known that an advisor linked to the association of betting platforms indirectly participated in the regulatory ecosystem between 2023 and 2025.
For the industry, the ministerial backing is a mixed signal. On the one hand, it ratifies that the Chilean State assumes the collection of digital VAT on non-domiciled operators, a practice already extended to international digital services. On the other hand, it makes clear that tax recognition does not open the door to a license or replace the pending legal framework, whose progress remains the only way for a fully enabled operation.
The Chilean case is being watched closely in the region. Countries like Peru, Brazil, and Colombia have already gone through processes where taxation preceded or coexisted with the regulatory development of online gaming, and experience shows that the separation between tax burden and formal authorization is not always sustained in public opinion. For emerging LatAm markets, the Chilean discussion once again raises a key question: how to build a regime that combines effective collection, player protection, and clear rules for operators before political pressure reopens the dispute.
Tags: Chile, Minister of Finance Chile, online gambling VAT Chile, SII, foreign operators LatAm, iGaming tax regulation Chile