The legal battle that for months pitted the Lottery of Concepción against Chile’s major telecommunications companies came to an end without the telcos being obligated to adopt advanced filtering technologies. The Court of Appeals of Santiago resolved to close and archive the litigation, establishing a distinction that will set jurisprudence in the country: complying with a basic blocking order does not equate to assuming an active, permanent, and intrusive blocking of internet traffic.
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The origin of the conflict: illegal betting and mirror sites
The case began in 2024, when the Lottery of Concepción turned to the courts to demand that operators Claro, Entel, GTD, Movistar, WOM, and VTR block online gambling sites operating outside the Chilean legal framework. The action was rejected in the first instance, but in September 2025 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the entity, ordering the blocking of the identified platforms.
However, the Lottery of Concepción was not satisfied with that ruling. In a second phase, it attempted to expand the scope of the measure to include technologies capable of detecting and blocking so-called “mirror sites”: duplicate versions of illegal platforms that reappear under new addresses to evade initial blocks. It was this expansion that led to the new judicial pronouncement.
Subtel and network neutrality, key to the decision
To resolve the controversy, the Court of Appeals relied on a report from the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel), which was decisive in the tribunal’s reasoning. The regulatory body made clear that in Chile there are no rules that oblige internet providers to implement sophisticated blocking technologies, noting that their adoption must consider the current regulatory framework regarding network neutrality, cybersecurity, and data protection, and that the decision to have these mechanisms remains within the sphere of autonomy of each company.
With that backing, the tribunal concluded that the original order had already been complied with by the telcos and that going further would imply imposing technological standards that Chilean regulations do not contemplate or require.
Basic blocking yes, intrusive technology no: the distinction that sets precedent
The Court of Appeals’ ruling establishes a dividing line of relevance for the sector: one thing is the specific blocking of a URL ordered by a court, and quite another is active and intrusive blocking of a permanent nature, which requires internet providers to implement deep packet inspection systems or other technical solutions of greater scope.
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This difference is not minor. Technologies capable of blocking mirror sites effectively operate on users’ general traffic, which creates direct tensions with fundamental principles of internet governance, such as network neutrality, which prevents operators from discriminating against or interfering with content circulating through their networks, and with personal data protection regulations.
The implications for the online gambling industry in Chile
The ruling does not mean that illegal gambling sites are free from restrictions. The platforms identified and blocked in compliance with the original Supreme Court order remain inaccessible. What the tribunal rejects is the obligation for telcos to become permanent technological watchdogs of their users’ traffic to pursue duplicate versions of those same sites.
For regulated market operators, the result is ambivalent. On one hand, it confirms that the judicial route can achieve concrete blocks of illegal platforms. On the other, it makes clear that the effectiveness of those blocks has structural limits as long as Chile does not update its regulatory framework to expressly contemplate the technological obligations of internet providers regarding illegal gambling.
The regulatory debate remains, then, open. If the country wants to move toward more robust blocking of illegal online betting, the path goes through the legislature and the regulator, not through the courts.
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