Chile’s tax authority faces questions over VAT on foreign online betting platforms

Chile’s Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII) is drawing criticism for requiring foreign digital betting platforms operating in the country to pay taxes, even though Chile still has no specific law regulating online gambling. For PSPs and operators, the point is simple: tax registration is not the same thing as a legal license, and the SII says exactly that.

1. At the center of the dispute is Resolución Exenta N°69 de 2026 from the SII, in force since 2 June. Under it, foreign digital betting platforms that provide services to people domiciled or resident in Chile must register in the SII system and comply with recordkeeping, filing, and tax payment rules.
2. The practical effect is a 19% IVA Digital obligation for those operators. The SII says the resolution only requires tax compliance and does not amount to authorization to operate under a regulated regime, or recognition that the activity is legal.
3. The criticism is coming from Karim Bianchi Retamales, president of the Comisión de Seguridad Pública, who submitted a request to the Ministry of Security asking for information on enforcement measures and what actions the Executive is taking against these operators.
4. Bianchi argues that charging VAT on an activity the Corte Suprema has already declared illegal is not regulation at all. He also says these platforms move large sums without supervision, which he sees as a possible channel for money laundering, and calls for rules aimed at removing illegal platforms rather than adapting the framework to their interests.
5. The debate matters because Chile still lacks a specific online gambling law, while the Supreme Court has ruled that foreign betting houses operating without authorization in national territory are illegal. That leaves foreign operators in an awkward place: taxed, but not licensed.

Another parliamentarian has also asked to review the legality of the rule, which suggests this is not just a one-off political complaint. For high-risk payment teams, the signal is clear: tax treatment and licensing status can diverge, and in Chile they currently do.