Online gambling in Chile is legally restricted, not freely legal. In late September 2025 the Supreme Court ruled that online betting is illegal unless a law expressly authorises it, and the Comptroller confirmed the casino regulator has no authority over online play. Only the state lottery (Polla Chilena), Lotería de Concepción and horse-racing operator Teletrak hold legal concessions. A bill to license online casinos and sportsbooks passed a general Senate vote in August 2025 and was granted top urgency in May 2026, but had not become law as of mid-2026 — so offshore sites remain unauthorised and increasingly blocked.

Chile has no functioning legal online-gambling regime. Land-based casinos, the two national lotteries and pari-mutuel horse racing are legal and regulated, but internet casinos and sportsbooks are not. The turning point came in late September 2025, when the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld a claim by Lotería de Concepción and ruled — in a narrow 3-2 decision — that online gambling is illegal unless expressly authorised. The court held that internet service providers had failed in their duty by allowing access to unauthorised platforms, and ordered them to block named sites.

The regulator and the pending law

The Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) regulates land-based casinos. The SCJ currently lacks competence over online operators. The pending bill (Bill 14838-03) would transform it into the Superintendencia de Casinos, Apuestas y Juegos de Azar, giving it a public licensee registry and enforcement powers. The bill — first introduced in 2022, cleared a general Senate vote in August 2025 (27 in favour, 3 against, 5 abstentions) and granted suma urgencia on 7 May 2026 — proposes:

ItemProposed rate
Operator tax (gross gaming revenue)20% + VAT
Tax on player winnings (at withdrawal)15%
Sports-federation share of betting income2%
Responsible-gaming contribution1% of annual gross revenue

None of this is law yet; these figures are from the draft bill, which remains in its second constitutional reading in the Senate.

Licensed vs offshore operators

Because no online licences exist, every internet casino and sportsbook targeting Chile does so from offshore and without domestic authorisation. The Supreme Court ordered ISPs to block unauthorised domains, including mirror sites used to dodge earlier blocks. Offshore play offers no local consumer protection, no guaranteed payout recourse, and exposure to sites that can vanish behind a block.

Payments locals use

Inside the legal, land-based world, Chileans pay with debit cards (Redcompra), bank transfers and cash at casinos. For offshore sites, players typically resort to cards, e-wallets and cryptocurrency — but banks may increasingly refuse gambling transactions, and the pending bill would formally require them to block payments to unlicensed operators.

Crypto gambling

Cryptocurrency is legal to own and trade in Chile. The 2023 Fintech Law (Law 21.521), supervised by the Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF), regulates crypto-asset service providers with registration and AML rules — but crypto is not legal tender. Gambling with crypto on offshore platforms is unregulated and not expressly authorised, so it inherits all the legal grey-area risk of offshore betting.

Tax on winnings

With no online regime in force, there is no dedicated online-winnings tax today. The draft bill would tax winnings 15% at withdrawal. Separately, in June 2026 the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) issued Resolution No. 69, requiring foreign online betting platforms to register and pay VAT (IVA) on services provided to Chilean residents — the SII stressed this is a tax measure only and does not authorise or legalise the activity. For your own situation, check with the SII.

Safer gambling

Chile has no single national gambling helpline, but support exists:

  • Salud Responde — public mental-health and health line, 600 360 7777 (24/7).
  • Jugadores Anónimos (Gamblers Anonymous) Chile — peer support groups.
  • SCJ responsible-gaming information — scj.gob.cl.

18+ only. Gambling can be addictive — set limits, never chase losses, and seek help if it stops being fun.

Sources