Superintendencia de Casinos, Apuestas y Juegos de Azar (SCJ) — Chile — Chile

Superintendencia de Casinos, Apuestas y Juegos de Azar (SCJ) — Chile — Chile logo
Chile: Chile regula casinos físicos bajo la Ley 19. iGaming operators serving the Chile market primarily use offshore licences from Curaçao, Panama or other international jurisdictions.
Chile is in the final stage of implementing South America's most detailed online betting regulatory framework. The bill was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 12 December 2023 with broad majority and urgent status, and approved in general by the Senate Finance Committee on 1 August 2024. The law transforms the existing Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ), created by Law N° 19.995, into the Superintendencia de Casinos, Apuestas y Juegos de Azar with extended online authority. The bill was presented by the Ministry of Finance under Undersecretary Heidi Berner. Applicable legal framework The existing base law for physical gambling is Law N° 19.995 (2005), regulating Chile's 25 licensed physical casinos under SCJ supervision. Until the bill is enacted and its regulation published, private online casino operates in implicit prohibition: Penal Code Articles 277-278 and Law N° 19.995 restrict legal gambling operation to specifically authorised concessionaires, Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, Lotería de Concepción, racetracks and specific charitable organisations. New regulatory structure The bill creates a semi-open market under the Plataforma de Apuestas en Línea (PAL) concept. PAL licence requirements: incorporation as a closed sociedades anónimas in Chile under Law N° 18.046, with exclusive online betting purpose; minimum capital of 2,000 UTM (~CLP 120 million / ~USD 130,000 at 2024 values) guaranteed for the first 90 days; maximum 10 shareholders; mandatory beneficial owner disclosure; remote system access for SCJ and SII. Licences are valid for five years. Tax regime PAL activities are subject to: VAT as a digital entertainment service; 20% specific tax on gross revenue (with +1% for responsible gambling non-compliance, deductible for responsible gambling expenditure); 1,000 UTM annual operating fee. Sports betting platforms must allocate an additional 2% of gross revenue to the Instituto Nacional del Deporte (IND), split equally between sports federations, the Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee. Player winnings taxed at 15%, automatically withheld at withdrawal. Illegal gambling enforcement The bill introduces unprecedented Chilean enforcement against the 900+ platforms the SCJ estimates operate illegally: ISP URL blocking; prohibition of local bank accounts for unauthorised operators; blocking of payment processor transactions to illegal platforms; advertising prohibition for unlicensed operators; and app download prohibition. Criminal offences are established for operators, promoters and facilitators of unlicensed platforms. Transition period and cooling off Operators currently serving Chile without authorisation face a 12-month cooling-off period after the legal market commences before they can apply for a licence. Operators without prior illegal Chile operations may apply for transitional licences while the definitive regulation is developed. Fiscal projection and market size The Ministry of Finance projects USD 85.7M+ in annual tax revenue once operational. Licensed physical casinos contributed approximately CLP 195.7 billion in taxes during 2023. For current legislative status: bcn.cl (Congress portal) and hacienda.cl.
Superintendencia de Casinos, Apuestas y Juegos de Azar (SCJ) — Chile - Technical Sheet
Founded2000
HQChile
CountryChile
CityCapital de Chile
LicensesZona gris / Offshore
ProductsRegulatory Analysis Chile, Offshore Licences for Chile, iGaming Legal Framework Chile
Webhttps://www.google.com/search?q=Chile+regulacion+juego+online