Chile Escalates VAT Enforcement Against Offshore Online Gambling Operators

Chile’s Internal Revenue Service has moved to enforce digital VAT obligations on foreign online betting and casino platforms, shifting part of the collection burden to payment providers after an initial lack of registrations under the new tax regime.

Chile’s Servicio de Impuestos Internos, or SII, has intensified its tax enforcement approach toward offshore online gambling operators after confirming that foreign betting and casino platforms serving Chilean customers must register, declare and pay Value Added Tax under the country’s digital services framework.

The measure follows Resolution No. 69, issued on June 2, 2026, which created a mechanism for non-resident platforms offering online betting, gambling, casino and similar digital services to comply with Chilean VAT obligations. The resolution placed foreign gambling platforms within the simplified tax regime used for overseas digital services providers.

The SII initially reported that, by July 13, no online betting platform had registered to comply with the requirement. That triggered the next enforcement stage, with the tax authority announcing that it would apply a “change of taxpayer” mechanism to platforms that failed to register voluntarily.

Under this model, banks, non-bank financial institutions and payment operators become responsible for withholding 19% VAT from transactions involving unregistered offshore gambling platforms and remitting the money to the tax authority on a monthly basis. The system relies on payment data from debit, credit and prepaid cards, allowing the SII to identify gambling transactions linked to Chilean customers.

Shortly after the enforcement announcement, the situation changed. The SII confirmed that 25 online betting platforms registered between July 14 and July 15 under the simplified digital VAT regime. At the same time, the tax authority published a list of platforms that had not registered and would therefore be subject to the payment-provider withholding mechanism.

The SII said the VAT base will generally be calculated on the total amount wagered by users domiciled or resident in Chile. However, where a platform can reliably prove the value of prizes paid to customers, the taxable base may be calculated as wagers minus prizes. In either case, the applicable VAT rate is 19%.

The authority also made clear that the tax measure does not legalise or authorise the operation of online gambling platforms in Chile. The resolution deals exclusively with tax compliance, while questions of licensing, legality and sector-specific regulation remain under the authority of other competent bodies and ongoing legislative discussion.

For offshore operators, the message is direct: serving Chilean customers without local residence no longer removes them from the country’s tax enforcement reach. Even where a platform does not register, Chile can use payment intermediaries and transaction data to collect VAT from the payment chain.

For banks and payment providers, the new framework creates an additional compliance role. They may now become operational tax-collection points for gambling-related transactions involving non-compliant offshore platforms. This could increase the importance of transaction monitoring, merchant identification and coordination with the SII.

The move also reflects a broader trend in Latin America. Governments are increasingly using tax tools, payment data and digital services rules to bring offshore gambling activity under public oversight, even before full online gambling licensing regimes are approved.

Chile’s approach creates a bridge between tax control and future gambling regulation. It does not resolve the legal debate around online betting, but it gives the state a practical mechanism to capture revenue, identify active operators and reduce the gap between offshore platforms and locally compliant businesses.

The key test will now be enforcement. If the SII successfully monitors registrations, validates declarations and applies withholding to non-compliant platforms, Chile could establish one of the region’s more sophisticated tax-control models for offshore online gambling. For operators, the risk of ignoring the Chilean market’s tax rules is now significantly higher.