Santiago Court of Appeals upholds regulator's ruling on restricted online betting advertising

The Santiago Court of Appeals has upheld a decision to fine the University of Chile and TV Chilevisión for broadcasting sports betting ads during the period set aside for the protection of minors. The Ninth Chamber of the Court rejected the university’s appeal and ordered an administrative fine of 20 UTM, equivalent to approximately 1,378,460 Chilean pesos or 1,430 US dollars.
According to Law 18.838, the hours of protection for minors are from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the court ruled that broadcasting gambling ads during these hours is “unacceptable to minors because it promotes illegal activity.”

Notably, this is not the first sanction against the University of Chile and TV Chilevisión. The previous sanction was for broadcasting online betting ads between 18:50:28 and 18:50:58, and was confirmed in February 2025.
Chilevision is not the only one to be sanctioned, Direc TV was also fined for broadcasting online betting ads between 13:21:14 and 13:32:58 on September 3, 2023.
Santiago-based lawyer Carlos Baeza, who represents a number of online operators such as Latamwin, Coolbet and Betano, told Vixio GamblingCompliance: “While we do not share the view of the Court of Appeal, which is completely contrary to the criterion established by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, we believe that since online gambling platforms and their advertising are not regulated, they should be subject to the general rules and therefore fall within the competence of CNTV.” With these actions, regulators underline the importance of maintaining strict controls as sports betting grows in popularity and the number of people addicted to it continues to grow