Chile Orders Internet Providers to Block 37 More Betting Domains, Mirrors of Betano, bet365 and Others

Chile's telecoms undersecretariat has sent internet providers a second list of betting sites to block within 48 hours, mostly new domains and mirrors of international betting brands. The industry group representing the operators says some of the domains go beyond what the courts ordered.

• Chile's Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) said on 21 September it has instructed internet providers to add 37 domains to their DNS blocking within 48 hours, in compliance with rulings by the Supreme Court and the Santiago Court of Appeals
• The domains are new domains, subdomains or mirror sites linked to brands including Betano, Betsson, bet365, Betway, Betfair, 1xbet, Betcris, Marathonbet and Sporting Bet, according to Subtel
• The order follows a first list of 42 sites on 1 September, bringing the total to 79, and goes to Entel, Movistar, Claro, GTD, WOM and VTR
• The blocking stems from a legal action by Lotería de Concepción, which holds Chile's online sports betting concession; the domains are identified by the lottery and validated by the casino regulator, the SCJ
• The online operators' group aPAL says some of the domains "are not contained in the Supreme Court ruling or the Court of Appeals resolution"

A Rolling Blocklist Built by the Courts

Subtel said it had formally notified internet service providers of a list of 37 domains sent by the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ), "to be added to DNS blocking mechanisms within a maximum of 48 hours" of notification, "in strict compliance with the rulings of the Supreme Court and the Santiago Court of Appeals". Providers must file proof of execution with the Court of Appeals. The procedure will continue on a rolling basis as new domains are validated, Subtel said, in a three-step process: Lotería de Concepción or a third party identifies the sites, the SCJ validates them and Subtel notifies the providers.

The legal basis is a constitutional protection action brought by Lotería de Concepción against the telecoms companies. The Supreme Court upheld it in 2025 and found the providers' refusal to block unlawful, and the Santiago Court of Appeals set a "dynamic and permanent" DNS blocking protocol in August, choosing DNS blocking for its "high specificity and lower relative risk of over-blocking". Subtel said in June that no blocking mechanism is fully effective against mirror sites.

The operators' association, the Agrupación Chilena de Plataformas de Apuestas en Línea (aPAL), said Subtel had exceeded the rulings. "Respecting court decisions also means respecting the limits they set," it said, according to 24horas, in a translation of the Spanish. "The underlying debate cannot be settled domain by domain. Chile needs regulation that brings order to this market comprehensively."

Chile Is Enforcing a Ban It Has Not Yet Legislated

The blocks rest on court rulings, not on a gambling law. Chile's online gambling bill, Boletín 14.838-03, was approved in general by the Senate on 9 September and is still in Congress. Until it passes, the country is enforcing the lottery's exclusive concession through the courts, the financial regulator's move against card payments and a criminal complaint by the state lottery, while several of the brands being blocked are international operators that could apply for licences once the law exists. That is the point aPAL is making, and it is not wrong: blocking mirrors at the rate of a few dozen a month treats the symptom. The rolling procedure means the list will keep growing until Congress decides who is allowed to operate.