Chile Adds Ten Legal Challenges Over Online Betting Platform Blocks

Chile’s telecom regulator is now dealing with ten challenges to the blocking of online betting domains: six administrative complaints, three constitutional protection actions, and one ordinary lawsuit. For PSPs and operators watching the market, the key point is simple: the blocklist is expanding, but the legal basis for enforcement is still under pressure.

1. Subtel deputy secretary Romina Garrido told the Economic Commission of the Chamber of Deputies that the agency has received ten filings against the shutdown of online betting domains. The tally includes six administrative complaints, three recurso de protección filings, and one ordinary lawsuit, all aimed at reversing the blocking measures.
2. According to the Superintendence of Casinos of Juego (SCJ), since 19 August authorities ordered the disabling of 174 unregulated websites. The instruction was sent to Chile’s six main internet providers: Wom, Entel, Claro, Movistar, VTR, and GTD.
3. The legal fight is now running on three tracks in Chilean courts. CoolBet’s protection action was rejected at first instance and is now awaiting a ruling on a request for reconsideration; EpicBet’s filing was declared inadmissible and its appeal is still pending.
4. Latamwin has a pending protection action and added a lawsuit for declaratory relief, asking the court to state that neither Subtel nor the SCJ has the legal authority to determine whether its operations are lawful. Garrido and SCJ superintendent Eduardo Cáceres both answered with the same line: neither agency decides on blockages on its own, and both are acting under judicial orders.
5. On the administrative side, six requests have been filed to overturn the blocks: two from EstelarBet, two from Betano, and one each from Betsala and Jugabet. Garrido also said the authorities are facing heavy pressure, including a communication campaign questioning the legality of the state’s measures and administrative submissions she described as intimidating.

There is also a practical limit here that every high-risk operator already knows: domain blocking is easy to route around. Garrido acknowledged that platforms can move to new domains, or sites espejo (mirror sites), which makes domain-based enforcement a partial tool at best. Cáceres said the SCJ’s long-standing position is that, without a specific legal framework, it cannot supervise, sanction, or regulate these companies, and that the only durable fix is to pass the online gambling bill. The Senate has now extended the deadline for amendments until Monday 26 October at 12:00, after the original deadline expired without the Executive’s observations.