Chilean casino unions call for online gambling law after SII ruling

Chile’s tax authority has told foreign online betting platforms to register and pay VAT, and that move is now pushing the country’s gambling debate in a more political direction. For PSPs and operators, the key point is simple: tax treatment is one thing, legal status is another, and those two questions are now being handled on separate tracks.

1. In a statement released last Friday, the National Federation of Casino Unions (Fenasicajh) backed Resolución Exenta N°69 de 2026, issued by Chile’s Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) on 2 June, but used the occasion to demand urgent approval of a comprehensive online gambling law. Fenasicajh said administrative measures alone are no longer enough and argued that Chile needs a “modern and definitive” legal framework.
2. The federation’s point is not that digital gambling is a threat in itself. Its line is that online platforms are already part of the sector, and if they are going to operate in Chile, they should be held to the same security and compliance standards that apply to land-based casinos.
3. The SII resolution creates a registration system for platforms without domicile or residence in Chile so they can declare and pay VAT on betting and gambling services provided in the country. Platforms that register must also regularize unpaid VAT for the last 36 tax periods. For foreign PSPs and operators, that is the kind of detail that turns a tax circular into an operational issue.
4. The tax authority said the measure is meant to ensure tax fairness and prevent foreign operators from gaining a competitive advantage over local taxpayers that are already meeting their tax obligations. The resolution does not decide whether the activity itself is legal; that question belongs to other bodies. That split is the source of the current fight.
5. Legislators have also pushed back. Senator Gastón Saavedra criticized the SII for acting while the Senate is still debating sector regulation, calling it “an absolute contradiction” with democracy and the rule of law. He also linked the expansion of illegal gambling to problem gambling, debt, and criminal activity. Senator Enrique van Rysselberghe went further and called the resolution “a mistake.”