As the sector continues to grow across the region, Chile’s Ministry of Finance has ensured that the bill to regulate online casinos is “almost ready”.
The industry has experienced astronomical growth in recent months and in Chile has not yet established a legal framework to make the most of it.
Senator Rodrigo Galilea was quoted by El Periodista as saying that more than 600 gambling houses are operating unregulated in Chile, which is why he believes it is necessary to pass a bill to regulate the market.
The proposal to regulate the digital segment was supposed to reach Congress early this year, but has been postponed. In any case, the Treasury projects that it’s just a matter of weeks before it gets into the hands of lawmakers for their assessment.
Expectations for approval of proposed regulation of online casinos
Expectations for its approval are mostly positive, so that it would pass through Congress without problems to give a legal framework to a segment that has been operating for some time.
The proposal includes responsible gaming measures and actions to prevent vulnerable sectors from accessing these sites, so that tax revenue can be increased without any possible negative effects.
For Senator Rabindranath Quinteros, the bill would be very beneficial to the State. He said: “There are programs and advertisements from these (online) casinos in the media being banned, while traditional casinos have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Being outlawed, the use of online casinos has grown exponentially.”
However, Senator Luz Ebensperger pointed out the difficulty of regulating the online sector because many operators are abroad, although she stressed that a legal framework “will help ensure that gambling does not reach minors”.
