Chile’s tax load could hand the market to illegal gambling

Chile is discussing a tax package for online gambling that would push the sector’s nominal burden to 23%, while the country is already collecting a 19% digital VAT from foreign platforms before it has issued formal licences. For operators and PSPs, the important part is not the headline rate alone: it is the combination of high ongoing taxes, retroactive charges, and a licensing system that is still not fully in place.

1. The Senate bill under discussion would add a specific 20% tax on GGR (gross gaming revenue, after prizes), plus 2% for sport and up to 1% for responsible gambling policies. On paper, that puts the sector’s nominal tax burden at 23%.
2. That number sits well above the regional comparison cited in the text: Peru applies 11.76% on GGR, while Brazil set 13% for 2026. The concern, as presented in the source, is straightforward: a market that starts with higher fixed costs gives legal operators less room to compete on odds, bonuses, and promotions against untaxed illegal sites.
3. Chile’s collection mechanism is already ahead of its licensing regime. Since June 2026, the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) has required foreign platforms to register and pay a 19% digital VAT, and the tax is applicable to operations from the previous 36 months as well.
4. According to the source, the SII warned that payment methods would withhold the 19% directly from unregistered sites, and dozens of platforms joined the regime after that threat. The catch is that paying the tax does not grant an operating licence or legal certainty, so the companies remain in a kind of regulatory limbo.
5. The bill could add another retroactive bill for existing operators: a one-time substitute tax of 31% on GGR from the last 36 months, plus a charge of 0.07 UTM for each active user account. The text says it is still unclear how this would be reconciled with the retroactive VAT already demanded by the SII.

The bill is still moving through the Economy and Finance committees of the Senate. For PSPs, acquiring teams, and banking partners, this is the part to watch: Chile is trying to formalize a high-risk vertical while layering current taxation on top of retroactive taxation, and the source argues that this structure could push volume back toward illegal operators with no tax or regulatory costs.