SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Congress of Chile has announced that it will establish an ‘Investigative Commission‘ to evaluate existing rules on sports betting advertising and to make recommendations on which changes should be applied as the government aims to launch a regulated online gambling marketplace in 2023.
Sports Minister Jaime Pizarro will lead the initiative, which within its remit has been tasked with reviewing Chilean football clubs’ existing commercial relationships with gambling firms (both foreign and domestic).
2023 has seen Chilean government departments work on Bill 035/2022, which seeks to liberalize Chile’s gambling marketplace, overhauling its current monopoly makeup restricted to three businesses: Loteria Concepción, Polla Chilena (football pools), and Teletrak Chile (pari-mutuel horse racing).
The overhaul of Chile’s gambling laws is required as the government seeks to strengthen Chilean pro-sports against match-fixing and to generate new tax income from a liberalised marketplace for igaming services.
Significantly, the Investigative Commission will examine the long-standing dispute between the National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) and the Ministry of Justice on betting partnerships.
The governing body of Chilean football, the ANFP, maintains that it cannot obstruct football clubs from entering commercial partnerships with gambling firms.
The Ministry of Justice has demanded that the ANFP uphold the rules of Chile’s new Sports Integrity Bill, which requires clubs, associations, sports federations, and national sports federations to ban the marketing of illicit activities.
The ANFP, which announced Betsson as the title sponsor of the Campeonato Nacional last year, will not enforce the Ministry’s rules as “sports betting remains a legal activity” and it awaits the government to implement a new gambling framework.
Its stance was criticised by Congressman Jaime Mulet, who stated that the ANFP was only concerned with maintaining commercial interests with betting houses and held no interest in tackling match-fixing issues.
The Congressman has appealed for the Investigative Commission to provide a report on “the potential conflicts of interest between betting houses and sports clubs”, to be delivered within a 120-day period.
Mulet scolded the political powers that defend the ANFP’s inaction on match-fixing, highlighting the non-attendance of Pablo Milad, the President of the ANFP, at previous hearings on football integrity
Despite the criticism, the ANFP insists on “the positive nature of regulating the operation of online betting, which has been a global reality for more than a decade”. Underlying that Chile has “no prohibition on advertising contracts for online betting platforms”.
The recommendations of the Investigative Commission on sports betting advertising and sports partnerships will be examined by the Chamber of Deputies drafting the legislative provisions for Bill 035/2022.
Yet to be finalized and reviewed by Congress, Bill 035/2022 requires outstanding legislation on advertising, consumer rights, and safer gambling policies.
