Chile: Supreme Court orders operators to block mirror gambling sites
Chile’s Supreme Court has overturned a key ruling on online gambling enforcement, ordering telecom operators to block not only unauthorised gambling sites but also all mirror domains, and issuing a rare public rebuke to the appeal judges who had closed the case.
When “complied with” does not mean complied with
The case stems from a formal complaint filed by Lotería de Concepción, one of the entities that, together with Polla Chilena de Beneficencia (Chile’s official state lottery), originally pushed for a judicial order to block unlicensed online gambling sites. According to ADN Radio, citing La Tercera, these institutions reported that the online gambling platforms continued to operate normally despite a standing court order requiring their closure.
The blocking order was easily bypassed. Platforms simply changed their web addresses or used so‑called “mirror sites”, exact replicas of the original site under different domains. While telecom companies insisted that they had already complied with the court’s decision by blocking only the principal domains, this allowed users to continue using services without interruption.
At first, the Santiago Court of Appeals accepted that argument, limiting the blocking responsibility to the primary domain and excluding its variations. On March 18, 2026, the case was archived, ending a process that, in reality, failed to deliver any meaningful outcome for the complaining entities. The Supreme Court, however, took a completely different view of the facts.
No clear law, so the Supreme Court shapes the future of betting in Chile
The contrast with other Latin American countries is evident. Colombia, for instance, has specialised police units focused on cybercrime and the digital economy that work in coordination with regulators to pursue unlicensed platforms more quickly and directly. In Chile, that type of institutionalised structure does not yet exist, so enforcement rests largely with the courts, which must rely on more traditional legal tools when dealing with a fast‑moving online gambling sector.
This partly explains why mirror sites proved so effective for so long. Without a dedicated technical or police body able to respond in real time to changes in web addresses, the only available route is to return to court, submit new evidence and wait for a fresh ruling. That process can take weeks or months while the site remains active.
Supreme Court exposes legal error by Santiago appeal judges
The Supreme Court held that the Santiago Court of Appeals committed a serious legal error by archiving the case, despite acknowledging in its own decision that the original court order had not been implemented in an authentic and effective manner. For the Supreme Court, recognising non‑compliance while simultaneously closing the case amounted to an unacceptable legal contradiction.
The original ruling ordering the blocks, issued in September last year, has the effect of res judicata, a final, binding judgment that cannot be ignored or unilaterally set aside by a lower court. On that basis, the Supreme Court found that the appeal judges could not simply treat the matter as concluded while the order remained only partially enforced.
Six telecoms operators face a new court phase
The Supreme Court was clear that the telecom operators, through omission, were allowing unauthorised gambling activity to continue in Chile by failing to block mirror sites, regardless of the technical and legal arguments advanced. From the Supreme Court’s perspective, this omission is not a question of technical capacity but of willingness to comply with the order.
As a direct consequence, a formal complaint was filed against the judges of the Santiago Court of Appeals responsible for the contested decision, describing their conduct as a “serious fault or abuse”. This type of institutional sanction is uncommon and reflects the Supreme Court’s level of concern about how the case was closed.
The companies directly affected by the blocking order are Claro, Entel, GTD, Movistar, WOM, and VTR, the country’s main telecom operators. They must now face a new phase of proceedings before the Santiago Court of Appeals, this time before judges who are not disqualified from hearing the case.
Case returns to Santiago: what comes next?
With the annulment of the previous decision, the case returns to the Santiago Court of Appeals so that non‑disqualified judges can adopt concrete and genuinely effective measures. The expectation is that they will ensure the detection and blocking not only of primary domains but also of all alternative addresses used by unlicensed online gambling sites to continue operating in Chile.
Lotería de Concepción and Polla Chilena de Beneficencia, which have led this legal action from the outset, view the ruling as a vindication of their position. Both institutions had warned that partial blocking was inadequate and that without targeting mirror sites, the judgment would be rendered ineffective in practice.
This article was first published in Spanish on 20 April 2026.
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