Chile’s online casinos step up challenges to site blocking as SCJ moves against 174 domains

Chile’s dispute over allegedly illegal online betting platforms is moving from theory to execution: since August 19, the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) has sent blocking requests for 174 sites to Subtel and the country’s six main internet providers. For PSPs and operators, the useful detail is not the courtroom noise but the enforcement pattern: domains are being blocked, legal challenges are piling up, and operators are changing domains to stay online.

1. According to the hearing before the Chamber of Deputies’ Economy Commission on Tuesday, the SCJ has forwarded blocking requests to the Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) and to WOM, Entel, Claro, Movistar, VTR, and GTD. The requests cover 174 sites in total and follow the Supreme Court resolution referenced by the authorities.
2. Romina Garrido, the undersecretary of telecommunications, told lawmakers that three judicial challenges have already been filed through recurso de protección (a constitutional protection action). CoolBet’s filing was rejected, though a request for reconsideration remains pending; EpicBet’s was declared inadmissible, with an appeal still to be resolved; and the Latamwin case had not yet been reviewed at the time of her presentation.
3. Latamwin has also filed a demanda de mera certeza (a declaratory action seeking legal certainty), arguing that Subtel and the SCJ do not have the authority to decide whether online platforms are legal. Garrido and acting SCJ superintendent Eduardo Cáceres told deputies that their agencies do not decide which sites should be blocked; they act under court rulings and the relevant procedures.
4. On the administrative side, the authorities said there are six separate challenges to the blocks. The filings are split across EstelarBet, which has two resources; Betsala, with one; Betano, with two requests; and Jugabet, with one request. In other words, the legal track is not the only track in play.
5. Garrido also said one of the main obstacles to enforcement is how quickly operators change domains to keep offering services. She said the platforms run a strong communications campaign calling the authorities’ actions illegal, and that the documents received by her office have been “quite threatening” in tone. The practical point for payment firms is straightforward: when platforms can reappear under new domains faster than blocks can be enforced, compliance teams need to watch the operator, not just the URL.