Chile’s SII Opens VAT Registration for Online Casinos as Senate Regulation Stalls

Chile’s tax authority has moved first: Resolution No. 69 from the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) now allows online betting, casino, and gambling operators without a domicile in Chile to register and comply with tax obligations through the so-called Digital VAT. For PSPs and high-risk operators, the signal matters because tax collection is moving ahead of licensing, which is exactly the sort of sequencing that creates awkward questions about market status, enforcement, and payment access.

1. The SII’s Resolution No. 69 enables offshore online gambling operators to register in Chile and pay Digital VAT. The measure applies to online betting houses, casinos, and other online gambling businesses without a domicile in Chile, and it lands while the bill to regulate online gaming is still moving through the Senate.
2. The land-based casino industry sees the move as contradictory. Cecilia Valdés, president of the Asociación Chilena de Casinos de Juego, argued that allowing tax payment for platforms whose activity is still unregulated can be read as indirect state validation. Her position is straightforward: regulation, authorization, and supervision should come before tax collection.
3. Wes Himes of the Betting and Gambling Council raised the legal issue in sharper terms. He said requiring VAT from companies that do not yet have a specific licence or regulatory framework creates legal uncertainty for both operators and the authorities responsible for supervising the market. In regulated markets, his point was, licensing usually comes first and tax obligations follow.
4. The dispute is unfolding against an active enforcement backdrop. Chile’s Supreme Court previously instructed telecom companies to block online betting sites, finding that they operate without authorization in the country. Authorities are also working on the mechanisms to implement those blocking measures.
5. Jorge Trujillo, the SII director, defended the resolution before the Senate’s Economy Committee. He said the tax authority’s job is to enforce tax compliance, not to decide whether an economic activity is legal or illegal. In his view, the resolution does not promote online gambling; it taxes activities that are already generating economic flows and actual transactions in Chile.

For high-risk payment businesses, the practical takeaway is simple: Chile is now trying to tax offshore online gambling activity before the licensing framework is finished. That is useful if you care about how a market is being treated administratively, but it also leaves the legal posture of operators and their payment flows in an unresolved state.