Chile Proposes a 22% Online Betting Tax and a Total Ban on Betting Advertising

President José Antonio Kast's government has finally filed its amendments to Chile's stalled online betting bill, pairing a 22% effective tax on gaming revenue with a ban on all betting advertising. Senators from several parties immediately called the tax too low.

• Chile's government filed more than 170 amendments to online betting bill Boletín 14.838-03 on 26 October, and Undersecretary of Finance Sebastián Vallebona presented them to the Senate Economy Committee on 27 October
• Licensed platforms would pay 19% VAT plus a new 3% additional tax, both on monthly stakes minus prizes paid, for a combined 22%
• All advertising of online betting platforms in Chile would be banned, licensed or not, with pre-existing contracts of temporary licensees allowed to run for at most one year after the ban starts
• Senators Matías Walker and Ricardo Celis said the tax should be higher, a week after colleagues filed amendments to ban private operators outright
• The online operators' group aPAL said the advertising ban and a ban on bonuses would make it harder to move players to regulated sites

Chile's Government Puts Its Own Text on the Table

The executive's amendments appear in the Senate's indications bulletin dated 26 October, filed in the name of President José Antonio Kast, and would rename the bill to cover child protection and gambling addiction prevention. According to Emol, the 114-page document was signed by Kast and ministers including Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz, and the previous administration's September 2025 amendments were withdrawn. The bill has been in Congress since March 2022.

Vallebona told the Economy Committee on 27 October that experience shows absolute prohibition does not work, G5 Noticias reported. The committee will continue at a later session with no date set, and the bill then goes to the Finance Committee, Emol reported.

A 22% Effective Rate on Gaming Revenue

The bulletin brings online betting platforms into Chile's VAT law, with the taxable base set as monthly amounts received for online bets, including commissions, minus prizes paid. A new Article 42 bis adds a 3% tax on the same base. Emol reported that the package scraps the original text's 20% levy on gross gaming revenue and its 2% sport and 1% responsible gambling charges, a combined ceiling the Finance Ministry put at close to 38%.

The annual licence fee stays at 1,000 UTM, approximately 72.2 million Chilean pesos, or about $73,500. Operators seeking a transitional licence would pay a 3,000 UTM fee, about $220,000, and show they have paid, or agreed to pay, VAT owed for the previous 36 months. Emol reported that this replaces a 31% one-off tax on 36 months of revenue, which the ministry warned could be unconstitutional.

Advertising Banned Outright, After a Grace Period

The executive's new Article 41 prohibits advertising of online betting platforms in Chile with or without an operating licence, including those who commission, produce or carry it. A separate amendment bans bonuses and promotions meant to attract or retain users, even unadvertised. Emol reported that Polla Chilena de Beneficencia and Lotería de Concepción are exempt for their own draws.

Under a new transitional article, the ban takes effect 30 days after the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) records that all transitional licence applications have been decided. Temporary licensees may keep advertising under contracts signed before the law is published, but those contracts lapse without compensation one year after the ban starts at the latest. Meanwhile, television and radio spots may run only between 10pm and 6am and must carry an addiction warning.

The Agrupación Chilena de Plataformas de Apuestas en Línea (aPAL), whose members include Coolbet, Betway and Epicbet according to Emol, welcomed regulation but said the advertising and bonus bans seriously undermine player protection, because a regulation "protects only those who play within it".

The 22% Rate Has Few Friends in the Room

Walker said the tax "seems low" and compared it with levies on pisco, wine and tobacco, and Celis said the 3% should be discussed to raise more revenue, according to Emol. Diego Ibáñez criticised the loss of payments to municipalities, and Committee Chair Gastón Saavedra called for a level playing field with land-based casinos. The government's own document points the other way, citing India, where use of offshore platforms rose from 68% to 82% after a 2025 ban despite more than 8,300 blocked sites, Emol reported. A 22% charge on gaming revenue is a channelisation rate; raising it would trade licensed volume for headline yield.

A Total Ban Makes the Licence Harder to Sell

The government is asking operators to pay three years of back VAT and a 3,000 UTM fee for a licence they cannot advertise and a product they cannot discount. That leaves blocking to do the work, and Chile has been building it: Subtel ordered 37 more domains blocked in September and the financial regulator moved to cut card payments. The one-year grace period softens the cliff for broadcasters and clubs, which Saavedra warned would divide senators, but not the destination.

The government has chosen regulation over the prohibition some senators want, then left the licensed market almost no room to market itself. Whether it can outcompete offshore sites without advertising is the question the Senate now has to answer.