The unfinished status of online gambling in Chile, sees advertising services become the latest sector embroiled in a never-ending legal fallout. Pedro Occhiuzzi of SBC Noticias looks to President Kast who must now play a decisive hand to end the regulatory roadblock for the sanity of all stakeholders.
Chile’s long-standing conflict on the legal status of online gambling has been extended to services provided by advertising and marketing agencies.
A new lawsuit has been filed by Polla Chilena, the licence holder for municipal lotteries and football pools, which has filed complaints against advertising agencies and creative studios for abetting the promotion of illegal gambling websites that target Chilean consumers.
Complaints have been submitted to Chile’s Council for Advertising (CONAR), as Polla Chilena looks to take actions against agencies and production companies that have breached the Chilean Code of Advertising Ethics.
The complaint draws particular attention to the organisations that continue to produce campaigns for online gambling operators that are licensed outside of Chile’s regulatory framework.
Among those named is production company Enelblanco.TV, which has reportedly produced work linked to a number of Coolbet campaigns that feature former Chile national team captain Claudio Bravo.
Polla Chilena additionally questioned the inclusion of a minor in one promotional video, raising concerns around exposure standards and audience protections.
Agency Ampfy has also been drawn into the dispute through advertising work associated with Betano broadcasts on sports television channels – which Polla Chilena accused Betano of “normalising online gambling as entertainment, without adequately reflecting the financial risks consumers may face”.
Creative studio Draff.tv has faced similar criticism regarding promotional material for Jugabet. Polla Chilena contended that video game-inspired visuals and app-style presentation risked making gambling more attractive to younger audiences, while failing to provide sufficiently prominent responsible gambling warnings.
Production company PartnerProd.cl completed the list of firms targeted, having produced Rojabet television campaigns that feature football scenes integrated with live odds graphics and betting-related visuals.
Polla Chilena takes no prisoners
The legal escalation marks a further expansion of Polla Chilena’s campaign against Chile’s unlicensed gambling operators extending enforcement pressure beyond operators themselves and into the wider commercial infrastructure supporting online betting.
Earlier this year, Polla launched separate legal action against payment processing companies accused of facilitating financial transactions for offshore gambling operators serving Chilean customers.
The state-backed entity argued that payment infrastructure providers remain central to enabling unlicensed operators to access the local market.
However, enforcement efforts continue to face structural limitations. Chile’s national telecommunications authority, SubTel, has rejected Polla Chilena’s demands to support broader IP-blocking measures and network restrictions aimed at limiting access to illegal gambling websites. The telecoms authority highlighted the limits of relying solely on technical enforcement mechanisms as a means of fighting the unlicensed market.
Courts plea for President Kast intervention
The issue now lands with President José Antonio Kast, whose administration has signalled that resolving Chile’s prolonged online gambling dispute will become a regulatory priority.
Market stakeholders continue to seek clarity on whether Kast intends to revisit previous online gambling frameworks that established criminal and taxation provisions, but have failed at settling key issues surrounding advertising controls, licensing structures and the privileges retained by municipal operators.
Pressure continues to build as Chilean courts process multiple disputes relating to gambling operators, payment companies and legacy market stakeholders. The accumulation of litigation has increasingly become viewed as a judicial bottleneck, prolonging a regulatory conflict that has remained unresolved for years.
For Chile’s next phase of gambling regulation, policymakers face a challenge extending beyond operator licensing alone. Questions increasingly centre on who carries responsibility across the wider ecosystem – payment providers, advertising agencies, telecommunications infrastructure and customer acquisition systems that enable offshore gambling businesses to reach Chilean consumers.
As Polla Chilena expands its legal offensive, attention now turns to whether Kast can finally break Chile’s regulatory deadlock and deliver a settled framework for online gambling after years of political and judicial uncertainty.
