Legal casino gambling age in Chile
Chile permits gambling only through channels that the law expressly authorises: land-based casinos licensed under Law No. 19.995 of 2005, a small number of older municipal casinos, horse racing, and lotteries run by two statutory operators, Polla Chilena de Beneficencia and Lotería de Concepción. There is no licensing regime for private online casinos or sportsbooks. The Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ), the casino regulator, states that the commercial operation of online betting platforms in Chile is illegal, and in September 2025 the Supreme Court ordered the main internet service providers to block unlicensed betting websites. A government bill to create a licensed online market, Boletín No. 14.838-03, has been before Congress since March 2022. As of 6 October 2026 it had not been enacted and was still under detailed review in the Senate. This guide explains the framework, its enforcement, the position of players, taxation and the main protection tools.
Key points
- Casinos are governed by Law No. 19.995 (published 7 January 2005), which caps the number of casino permits at 24 and states that a casino permit never covers online games of chance.
- The Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego supervises casinos and, together with the telecoms regulator Subtel, now identifies unlicensed gambling domains for blocking.
- On 30 September 2025 the Supreme Court (case Rol 18.080-2025) ordered six internet providers to block unauthorised betting sites; Subtel issued blocking orders for 42 domains on 1 September 2026 and 37 more on 21 September 2026.
- The online betting bill (Boletín 14.838-03) passed the Chamber of Deputies in December 2023 and was approved in general by the Senate on 13 August 2025. It proposes licences supervised by a renamed regulator and a 20% tax on gross gaming revenue. It was not law as of October 2026.
- A national voluntary self-exclusion system covers all licensed and municipal casinos.
Last reviewed: 6 October 2026.
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Historical development
Chile’s lotteries predate its modern casino law by many decades. Lotería de Concepción held its first draw on 8 October 1921 as a means of financing the newly founded Universidad de Concepción. According to the history published by the university, gambling was prohibited at the time, and the founders worked around the ban by presenting the scheme as “donations by draw”. The lottery has been a principal source of the university’s funding since its early years. Polla Chilena de Beneficencia was established on 6 June 1934. It is today a public company owned 99% by Corfo, the state development agency, and 1% by the Treasury, according to the Budget Office (DIPRES) profile of state companies. Its mandate covers lottery draws and sports pools, with proceeds distributed to designated beneficiaries and the state.
Casinos developed piecemeal. A 2020 report by the Library of Congress advisory service records that seven municipalities (Arica, Iquique, Coquimbo, Viña del Mar, Pucón, Puerto Varas and Puerto Natales) operated casinos created by individual laws passed between 1928 and 1990. Law No. 19.995 of 2005 replaced this case-by-case approach with a single national system of competitively awarded permits, supervised by a new regulator. The law was substantially amended by Law No. 20.856 of 2015, which changed the permit procedure and evaluation criteria. In 2025 the SCJ reported 25 casinos in operation: 22 under Law 19.995 and three municipal casinos.
Online gambling arrived without a legal framework. Offshore betting and casino websites began advertising heavily to Chilean consumers in the 2010s. The government introduced its bill to regulate them on 7 March 2022. Meanwhile the statutory operators went to court to have unlicensed sites blocked, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling of September 2025 described below.
Legal framework
The main sources of gambling law are:
- Law No. 19.995 establishing the general rules for the authorisation, operation and supervision of casinos (Ley que establece las bases generales para la autorización, funcionamiento y fiscalización de casinos de juego), published on 7 January 2005. It defines games of chance as games whose result depends “essentially on chance or luck”, creates the SCJ and sets the casino taxes.
- The special laws authorising the state lottery operators, horse racing and the remaining municipal casinos. The national lottery system run by Polla Chilena rests on Decree Law No. 1.298 of 1975, as amended.
- The Penal Code, whose articles on gaming houses penalise unauthorised gambling, and the Civil Code, under which gambling debts arising from illicit games are void for illicit purpose, as summarised by the law firm ECIJA.
Three provisions of Law 19.995 are central. Article 5 states that “in no case shall the operating permit include online games of chance” (juegos de azar en línea). Article 16 limits the number of casinos to 24 nationwide, with no more than three in any one region, no casino in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, and a minimum road distance of 70 kilometres between casinos. Article 26 sets the permit term at 15 years, renewable for further 15-year periods. Games must be listed in an official catalogue maintained by the SCJ.
The basic legal principle, as the Supreme Court restated it in 2025, is that gambling is unlawful unless a law expressly authorises it. The court held, as reported by CNN Chile, that “online betting is illegal unless it has express authorisation by law”. Because no general online gambling law exists, the only online gambling services that are lawful are those operated by bodies with their own statutory authority: Polla Chilena, Lotería de Concepción and the online betting system of the racecourse operator Teletrak.
Regulator and licensing model
Chile combines a licensing model for land-based casinos with statutory monopolies for lotteries. A monopoly here means that the right to run a type of game is reserved by law to one named entity, rather than opened to competing licensees.
The Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego is an autonomous public body created by Article 35 of Law 19.995. It evaluates permit applications, authorises games and gaming equipment, inspects casinos, enforces anti-money-laundering rules in the sector, handles player complaints and runs the national self-exclusion system. Casino permits are awarded through competitive tenders. In the SCJ’s reporting for 2025, as summarised by Yogonet, the 25 operating casinos had gross gaming revenue (GGR, meaning stakes minus winnings paid) of CLP 549.3 billion, about USD 577.5 million, and recorded 6.3 million visits. The 22 casinos under Law 19.995 accounted for CLP 509.8 billion of that total.
The SCJ has no power to license online operators. Its role in online gambling is limited to enforcement: it identifies and certifies domains used by unauthorised platforms, and it receives complaints. The Senate’s Economy Committee heard in June 2026 that the SCJ had filed 123 criminal complaints with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público) about online platforms since 2018, citing difficulties collecting prizes, irregular games and access by minors.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
The SCJ’s frequently asked questions state plainly that “in our country the commercial operation of online betting platforms is illegal”. In an official letter of 2021 (Oficio No. 1.456-2021), cited by ECIJA, the SCJ also stated that online betting platforms lack legal authorisation. Despite this, the market is large. A 2025 study by the consultancy Yield Sec, reported by La Tercera, estimated that more than 5.4 million Chileans used online betting platforms, with transactions above USD 3 billion. These are industry estimates, not official statistics.
The 2025 Supreme Court ruling
The key enforcement step came from litigation by the statutory operators. Lotería de Concepción brought a recurso de protección (a constitutional action to protect fundamental rights) against six internet service providers: Claro, Entel, GTD Manquehue, Telefónica (Movistar), WOM and VTR. Polla Chilena joined the case. The Santiago Court of Appeal rejected the action on 30 April 2025. On 30 September 2025 the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court reversed that decision in case Rol 18.080-2025, as reported by Gaming Intelligence and El Mostrador.
The court held that the providers’ refusal to block access was illegal and arbitrary, because it allowed unlicensed competitors to undermine Lotería de Concepción’s legally protected right to operate its games. It ordered the providers to block “immediately” all the sites identified by Lotería, unless a platform could show legal authorisation. The decision was by majority: Minister Mireya López and the lawyer-member Carlos Urquieta dissented and would have confirmed the lower court’s ruling. CNN Chile also reported an earlier, narrower ruling in 2022, in which Polla Chilena obtained the blocking of more than 20 sites by one provider.
Blocking in practice
Implementation passed to the telecoms regulator, the Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel). On 1 September 2026, Subtel ordered the six providers to block 42 gambling domains within 48 hours of notification. The Santiago Court of Appeal had endorsed DNS blocking (blocking at the level of the domain-name lookup) as the method that best protects network neutrality and user privacy and avoids over-blocking lawful services. Under the procedure, the SCJ validates and certifies which domains belong to unauthorised operators before Subtel issues the instruction, and providers must confirm compliance to the Court of Appeal. On 21 September 2026 Subtel ordered the blocking of a further 37 domains, mainly mirror sites (copies of a blocked site at a new address) of platforms already targeted. In March 2026, according to Focus Gaming News, Lotería de Concepción had asked the Court of Appeal to extend the order to mirror sites, which some providers opposed as going beyond the original judgment.
Chile does not yet have a statutory system of payment blocking. The pending bill would add one, together with ISP blocking powers and specific criminal offences for illegal operators. Advertising of unlicensed gambling is not governed by a dedicated statute; the bill would introduce restrictions, including rules protecting minors.
Position of players
The legal sources we reviewed focus on operators and intermediaries. The Supreme Court ruling, the Subtel orders and the SCJ statements all concern the providers of gambling and the networks that carry it. ECIJA’s February 2026 analysis notes that users take part “in a market lacking national legal protection”, but it does not identify any penalty applying to players of unlicensed platforms. We found no reported prosecution or fine of a player for using an offshore betting or casino website. Readers should not conclude that such play is lawful: it takes place outside any authorised channel, and the Supreme Court described it as an activity carried on outside the legal order.
The practical consequences are significant. A player using an unlicensed site has no access to the SCJ’s complaints procedure as a licensed customer would, no guarantee of age checks or self-exclusion, and, under the Civil Code rule noted above, may face difficulty enforcing a claim for winnings. Lawful options are limited to land-based casinos, horse racing and the products of Polla Chilena, Lotería de Concepción and Teletrak.
Taxation
Casinos
Law 19.995 imposes two specific taxes on casinos, in addition to value added tax (VAT, 19% in Chile) and ordinary corporate taxes:
| Tax | Rate | Destination |
|---|---|---|
| Admission tax (Art. 58) | 0.07 UTM (monthly tax unit) per entry | General state revenue |
| Specific gaming tax (Art. 59) | 20% of gross gaming revenue | 50% to the regional government, 50% to the host municipality |
According to the SCJ, the 22 casinos under Law 19.995 paid CLP 100.2 billion in taxes in the first half of 2025: CLP 43.3 billion in specific gaming tax, CLP 41.8 billion in VAT and CLP 15.0 billion in admission tax. They also paid CLP 20.6 billion to municipalities under the economic offers made in their permit tenders. The municipal casinos pay under older rules; the Library of Congress report notes that they pay the admission charge but not the 20% gaming tax.
Online platforms
On 2 June 2026 the tax authority (SII) issued Exempt Resolution No. 69, requiring foreign online betting platforms to register under the regime for foreign providers of digital services and pay VAT on their Chilean transactions, including unpaid VAT for up to 36 prior periods. The SII stated that the resolution “refers exclusively to the fulfilment of tax obligations” and that authorisation and legality are matters for other authorities. Critics in Congress argued that it amounted to taxing an illegal activity; Next.io reported that 39 betting sites had registered.
Players
The SII states that lottery prizes pay a single tax (impuesto único) at 15%, withheld before payment. For other gambling winnings, the accounting firm Círculo Verde explains that prizes not covered by a specific rule, including winnings from betting platforms, are in principle taxable income under the Income Tax Law. We did not find official SII guidance dealing specifically with winnings from casinos or offshore platforms, so players should seek tax advice.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
The main protection tool is the SCJ’s National Voluntary Self-Exclusion System. Any adult may renounce the right to enter all casinos authorised under Law 19.995 and the municipal casinos. Registration can be made in person at a casino or at the SCJ, online using a notarised or digitally signed form, or with the government digital identity, ClaveÚnica. Casinos must check visitors’ identity documents against the register. The procedure is set out in the SCJ’s compendium of rules (Book II, Title VIII, on player protection and responsible gaming), and the SCJ publishes monthly self-exclusion statistics. The system does not cover the lotteries or any online platform.
The SCJ’s responsible gaming pages also publish a good-practice guide and a ten-point responsible-gaming code for casinos. Casino entry is restricted to adults. We could not identify a dedicated, state-run national gambling helpline in Chile; the SCJ’s public line (+56 2 2589 3000) handles enquiries and complaints, and treatment is provided through general mental health services. See also our responsible gambling guide.
The online betting bill would widen these protections considerably. As described by the Finance Ministry and G3 Newswire, it would create a National Responsible Betting Policy and a National Self-Exclusion Register binding on both online and land-based operators, with a minimum exclusion period of six months, and it would restrict advertising aimed at minors.
Recent and upcoming developments
The online betting bill (Boletín 14.838-03)
The official legislative record shows the following stages:
- 7 March 2022: the bill “regulating the development of online betting platforms” is submitted to the Chamber of Deputies. The government amended it in June, September and October 2023.
- December 2023: the Chamber approves it and sends it to the Senate on 12 December 2023 (second constitutional stage). The Finance Ministry reported approval by a broad majority.
- 13 August 2025: the Senate approves the bill in general (in principle) by 27 votes to 3, with 5 abstentions, as reported by the Finance Ministry and the Senate. Amendments were due by 29 September 2025.
- 6–7 May 2026: the government of President José Antonio Kast attaches suma urgencia to the bill, which asks each chamber to dispatch it within 15 days, as reported by El Mostrador. We found no record of the higher discusión inmediata urgency being applied.
- 16 June 2026: with a large number of amendments tabled, the Senate Economy Committee agrees to set up a technical working group with the Executive before a new amendment deadline (Senate).
- September 2026: the Economy Committee continues article-by-article review; G3 Newswire reported on 10 September 2026 that no date for final passage had been announced.
Status as of 6 October 2026: the bill has not been enacted. It remains in its second constitutional stage in the Senate, under detailed (particular) discussion in committee. The urgency attached in May 2026 has not produced a final vote. If the Senate amends the Chamber’s text, the bill must return to the Chamber of Deputies, and any disagreement would go to a joint committee.
The main proposals, as described by the Finance Ministry in 2023 and 2025 and by G3 Newswire in May 2026, are:
- Regulator: the SCJ would become the Superintendencia de Casinos, Apuestas y Juegos de Azar, with powers including real-time remote access to operators’ platforms.
- Licences: operators would need an administrative authorisation and would have to be incorporated in Chile as closed corporations with gaming as their exclusive object, disclose their shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners, and comply with anti-money-laundering rules. Operators that had served Chile illegally could apply only after a 12-month cooling-off period and payment of a one-off tax. The licence term had not been confirmed in the sources we reviewed.
- Tax: a specific tax of 20% of gross gaming revenue plus VAT, an additional 1% for responsible gambling, and a 2% levy on sports betting revenue for sports bodies. Operators found to have acted illegally would pay a substitute tax of 31% of gross income from up to the previous 36 months plus 0.07 UTM per user account. Reports of the May 2026 version also refer to a 15% tax on players’ withdrawals.
- Enforcement: payment blocking, ISP blocking and new criminal penalties for illegal operation.
The Finance Ministry estimated annual revenue of about CLP 84 billion from the regime (2025 estimate). Several senators questioned whether the bill would effectively legalise an existing irregular market, and the June 2026 VAT resolution sharpened that debate.
Enforcement in 2026
Alongside the bill, enforcement has moved forward through the courts. The Subtel orders of September 2026 were the first large-scale blocking instructions under the Supreme Court ruling, and the procedure is designed to be repeated as the SCJ certifies new domains.
Casino listings for players in Chile
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database and do not show that an operator is authorised in Chile. Chile has no licensing regime for private online casinos: the SCJ states that the commercial operation of online betting platforms is illegal, and unlicensed sites are being blocked under court order. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful. The only lawful online gambling services are those of the statutory operators; information on authorised casinos is available from the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego.
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Sources and further reading
- Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional / Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, Ley N° 19.995 que establece las bases generales para la autorización, funcionamiento y fiscalización de casinos de juego (text updated to December 2023) (2005, as amended).
- Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, Sitio institucional (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, Preguntas frecuentes (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, Sistema Nacional de Autoexclusión Voluntaria (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, Juego responsable (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego, Aporte tributario de los casinos de juego autorizados por la Ley N°19.995 durante el primer semestre de 2025 (2025).
- Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados, Tramitación del proyecto de ley Boletín 14838-03 que regula el desarrollo de las plataformas de apuestas en línea (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Ministerio de Hacienda, Sala de la Cámara aprobó el proyecto de ley que regula el desarrollo de las plataformas de apuestas en línea (2023).
- Ministerio de Hacienda, Senado aprobó en general el proyecto de ley para regular las plataformas de apuestas en línea (2025).
- Senado de la República, Apuestas en línea: comisiones unidas de Economía y Hacienda analizarán el proyecto en particular (2025).
- Senado de la República, Regulación de plataformas de apuestas en línea: acuerdan conformar mesa técnica con el Ejecutivo (2026).
- Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones, Subtel ordena bloqueo de 42 sitios de apuestas online (2026).
- Servicio de Impuestos Internos, SII emite Resolución para que plataformas extranjeras de apuestas en línea paguen IVA Digital por operaciones realizadas (2026).
- Servicio de Impuestos Internos, Preguntas frecuentes: impuesto a los premios de lotería (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Dirección de Presupuestos, Polla Chilena de Beneficencia S.A. (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Cavada Herrera, J. P. (Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional), Régimen tributario de la industria de casinos de juego en Chile (2020).
- Universidad de Concepción, Lotería de Concepción: la historia de una audacia que cumple 100 años (2022).
- ECIJA, El escenario legal de las apuestas en línea en Chile: riesgos, vacíos normativos y proyecto de ley (2026).
- Gaming Intelligence, La Corte Suprema de Chile ordena bloquear el acceso a las webs de apuestas ilegales (2025).
- El Mostrador, Corte Suprema ordena a proveedoras de internet bloquear sitios de apuestas online (2025).
- G3 Newswire, Chile fast-tracks online betting bill with new gaming body and 20 per cent tax (2026).
