Subtel orders blocking of 37 more betting domains in Chile
Forty-eight hours. That's the time Entel, Movistar, Claro, GTD, WOM, and VTR have to make 37 unauthorized online betting and casino domains, subdomains, and mirror sites inaccessible, according to the order that the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel) notified to the country's main internet providers.
Subtel did not compile the list. It was sent by the Superintendency of Gaming Casinos (SCJ), which previously reviewed each address following the procedure established by the Santiago Court of Appeals and later confirmed by the Supreme Court. The circuit has three stages: Lotería de Concepción, or the co-adjuvant third party, detects the sites and provides the background information to the SCJ; the Superintendency verifies that they are indeed unauthorized gaming platforms; and only then does Subtel forward the list to the operators for execution.
The method is also defined by the court. Blocking is done at the DNS level, the system that translates domain names into addresses, because it allows targeting identified sites one by one and reduces the risk of affecting other services. Providers must certify to the Court of Appeals that they have complied, with the exact date and time of each block, and send a copy of that certification to Subtel.
This is not a one-time measure. The scheme anticipates new rounds as domains, subdomains, or mirrors appear, provided they are specific, verifiable, and have previously passed through the SCJ's filter. It also includes a correction mechanism for cases where a block ends up affecting a legitimate service.
The new order comes days after the Santiago Court of Appeals admitted the appeal filed by Grupo Latamwin, which challenged a previous block on 42 sites, arguing that the SCJ does not have the authority to declare a platform illegal and that its case fell outside the original dispute. Chile does not yet have a law regulating online gambling, and the judicial mechanism born from the Lotería de Concepción's litigation against telecommunications companies is currently the main tool the State uses to act against unlicensed offerings.
Tags: Undersecretariat of Telecommunications, Gambling site blocking, Superintendency of Gaming Casinos, Concepción Lottery