Chile orders blocks on 37 more online betting sites as aPAL questions the scope

Chile’s Subtel has ordered the country’s main ISPs to block 37 new domains tied to online betting and gambling platforms within 48 hours, using DNS filtering. For payment companies and operators, the important bit is that the blocking process is now being applied repeatedly, not as a one-off.

1. The Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones de Chile (Subtel) instructed Entel, Movistar, Claro, GTD, WOM and VTR to implement the blocks after receiving a list validated by the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ). The measure follows resolutions from the Supreme Court and the Santiago Court of Appeals.
2. According to Subtel, the procedure works like this: the SCJ first validates the domains, subdomains, redirects or mirror sites linked to online betting platforms operating without authorization. Subtel then sends the list to internet providers, who must block access via DNS and later prove to the Santiago Court of Appeals that the order was carried out.
3. The Chilean Online Betting Platforms Association, aPAL, challenged the scope of the latest order. It said some of the domains included in the new instruction were not specifically covered by the court rulings that triggered the block. aPAL also pointed to a similar issue after the previous block of 42 sites.
4. aPAL argues that administrative measures used to enforce court rulings must stay “strictly” within their content, rather than extending beyond what judges actually ordered. The group’s line is simple enough: the broader debate over online betting should not be settled “domain by domain.”
5. Subtel said the procedure will keep being applied to new domains, subdomains or mirror sites, as long as they are specific, verifiable and pre-approved by the SCJ. For PSPs, acquiring banks and operators, that means Chile’s enforcement model is built to keep moving as platforms change infrastructure.

aPAL is also pushing for a broader regulatory framework for online betting in Chile, covering operator rules, supervision mechanisms, user protection and tax obligations. In other words, the blocking orders are happening in parallel with a regulatory debate that has not been closed yet.