The executive president of the Chilean Association of Casinos and Games, Cecilia Valdés, sparked the debate on the regulation of online gambling in Chile with statements to the media outlet La Tercera in which she warned about the risks of continuing to postpone a regulatory framework for the digital environment. Her central message was clear: the absence of regulation does not stop the growth of online gambling, it only allows it to operate without controls.
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An asymmetry that harms the formal industry
Valdés’ argument does not point to the existence of online gambling as a problem in itself, but rather to the unequal conditions in which those who operate within the regulated system and those who do so outside of it compete.
«The discussion is no longer just about the existence of illegal platforms, but about the lack of equivalent conditions between those who operate under regulation and those who do so without clear obligations. This asymmetry directly impacts the sustainability of the formal industry, tax collection, and the State’s ability to exercise effective control», the executive stated.
This inequality of conditions has concrete consequences: formal operators assume compliance, taxation, and oversight costs that their informal competitors do not face, which deteriorates the competitiveness of the regulated segment and reduces the revenue that the State could capture if the market were orderly.
A regulation designed for another time
Another point that Valdés put on the table is the obsolescence of the current regulatory framework. The current rules were conceived for an in-person environment and show evident limitations compared to the reality of digital gambling, which operates with a completely different logic, scale, and speed.
According to the leader, this does not require minor adjustments, but rather rethinking the entire architecture of the regulatory system so that it can respond to a market that has already changed and will continue to change.
In this context, the political moment also plays in favor of moving forward. The new government authorities arrived with a discourse oriented towards law enforcement and a specific need for revenue, which opens a window of opportunity to push for a reform that until now had not found the necessary political urgency.
Chilean football in the crosshairs
One of Valdés’ most direct points targeted professional football. The executive questioned why ten of the fourteen clubs in the Chilean football First Division have sponsorship contracts with betting companies that operate without authorization in the country.
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«I don’t know if the football teams do due diligence to know where those resources come from and where they go, or who the owners are», Valdés declared, leaving open the question of the responsibility that clubs bear in legitimizing operators acting outside the legal framework.
The questioning is not minor: sponsorships on jerseys, stadiums, and broadcasts grant massive visibility to platforms that, by not being regulated, have no obligations regarding responsible gambling, user protection, or tax contribution.
The bill waiting in the Senate
The debate on the regulation of online gambling in Chile has a concrete vehicle: a bill that is currently in the Senate, waiting to resume its debate in committees before moving towards eventual approval.
For Valdés, the initiative is sufficiently advanced to demand that its processing be accelerated.
«With a fairly advanced bill, we believe it is urgent to step on the gas, not only to organize the resources the State is losing but also to protect all consumers», the executive maintained.
A market that does not wait
The underlying message of Valdés’ statements is that time is running against inaction. Online gambling in Chile is not stopped by the lack of regulation: it is growing, largely outside the system, with platforms that do not pay taxes, do not protect their users, and are not accountable to any local authority.
Regulating that market is not an option to be considered in the future, but a present necessity that has concrete fiscal, institutional, and social costs every month that passes without a regulatory response.
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