🤯 Chile🇨🇱: the government granted ”highest urgency” status to the bill regulating online betting platforms

🤯 Chile🇨🇱: the government granted ”highest urgency” status to the bill regulating online betting platforms

Chile has adopted an unusual approach: the country began collecting taxes before issuing official licenses or establishing a definitive legal framework. The proposal may now move toward a more structured regulatory system.

🔣 New framework: in the absence of a complete regulatory and licensing system, some operators—particularly foreign companies—may choose not to comply with tax obligations or blocking measures. However, for nearly a month, the shared tax liability (change of taxpayer) mechanism has been in force, making payment service providers responsible for withholding and remitting taxes on gambling transactions.

🔣 Chile's tax framework:

➖ Since June 2026, Chile’s Internal Revenue Service (SII) has required foreign platforms to register and pay a 19% digital VAT, which also applies retroactively to transactions carried out during the previous 36 months.

➖ The bill currently under discussion in the Senate introduces a 20% specific tax on GGR (Gross Gaming Revenue — gross gaming revenue after prize payouts). An additional 2% would be allocated to sports funding, while up to 1%would finance responsible gambling initiatives. Combined, the sector’s nominal tax burden would reach 23%.

➖ Obtaining a final operating license could also result in additional tax obligations for previous periods. Companies already operating in Chile would be required to pay a one-time substitute tax of 31% on gross revenue generated over the previous three years, as well as a fee of 0.07 accounting units for each active user account. It remains unclear how this new tax would interact with the retroactive VAT already being collected.

🔣 Next step: the designation of "highest urgency" requires the Senate to advance discussion of the bill within 15 days.

🔣 Industry response: the acceleration of the legislative process was welcomed by the Chilean Online Betting Association (aPAL), whose members include Betsson, JuegaEnLinea, Coolbet, and LatamWin.

🔣 If the bill is approved, the current Superintendency of Casinos (SCJ) will become the Superintendency of Casinos, Betting and Gambling, with expanded supervisory powers and real-time remote access to gambling platform operations.

#news #Chile #gambling #analysis

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