Responsible gambling tax proposed for Chile’s online gambling bill

The tax proposals are included in new articles published by the Chamber of Deputies’ Economic Commission.

Chile.- The Chamber of Deputies’ Economic Commission has proposed tax measures as Chile advances with preparations to launch regulated online gambling. The commission endorsed the Ministry of Finance’s recommendation of 20 per cent tax on gross income from online gambling.

Meanwhile, it has recommended a responsible gambling tax of 1 per cent for all gambling verticals, including land-based gaming. Online licensees will also need to contribute 1,000 monthly tax units (UTM) per year. The value of UTM vary by month according to the consumer price index.

The commission has recommended a further 2 per cent tax on the income of sports betting operators. This would be distributed to sports federations, the Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee by the National Sports Institute, IND. It agreed to a request by the state-owned pools betting operator, Polla Chilena, to remove the limit on the return of prizes by monopoly firms.

The Chamber of Deputies will vote on the articles before they can enter the final text of Bill 035/2022.

Last month, Chile’s National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) was forced to drop its title partnership deal with Betsson AB for the Campeonato Nacional. It says the contract has been terminated as of yesterday (October 15) due to a recent Supreme Court decision on the legality of gambling.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Polla Chilena, which had lodged a complaint against unlicensed sports betting. The court clarified that sports betting is currently illegal in Chile. As such, it ordered all sporting bodies to end sponsorship deals with unlicensed gambling operators.