EXCLUSIVE: Land-based casinos in Chile are looking to break into the flourishing online betting business — a sector they spent years resisting by opposing the regulation of sports betting platforms.
Indeed, there is growing speculation that Dreams S.A., the company that owns the largest number of casinos in Chile, may already be operating in the online betting space, according to industry sources.
Legislation to regulate online betting platforms has been stalled in the Chilean Congress for some time.
Boom
But with sports betting booming across the country and a conservative government now more open to a regulated bets market, approval is increasingly seen as inevitable.
“For quite a while now there have been rumours that Dreams is already operating in Chile under a different name, although nothing has been officially confirmed,” one veteran of the betting industry told iGamingFuture.
“Dreams owned the Solbet brand, which operated in Peru and Paraguay, but they dropped it last year. They sold the business in Paraguay and shut down operations in Peru.
“I think they will move into online betting once regulation is approved in Chile,” the highly-placed source told me.
Online Project
Another executive, who also asked to remain anonymous added: “Monticello, which is also owned by Dreams, has been developing an online project in preparation for regulation.
“From what I’ve heard, all of the land-based casino groups in Chile are interested in the online betting business,” the source affirmed.
iGamingFuturo contacted Dreams Chief Executive Víctor Ide Benner for comment, but received no response.
With only a handful of exceptions, Chile’s roughly two dozen licensed casinos are owned by two domestic operators: Dreams S.A. and Enjoy S.A..
Online betting is not unfamiliar territory for Dreams. Solbet was an innovative sportsbook the company started in Peru in 2020, quickly establishing itself in a highly competitive betting market with a strong focus on the Latin American market, particularly Peru and Ecuador.
Network
Dreams has built an extensive network of land-based casinos across Latin America, with operations in Chile, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Paraguay.
In Chile, the company operates venues including Dreams Temuco, Dreams Iquique and Monticello Casino.
iGaming has expanded rapidly in Chile.
In 2024 alone, 3,816 online betting sites operated in the country, generating gross gaming revenue (GGR) of US$3.1 billion (£2.31bn), according to consultancy Yield Sec, which estimated that 5.4 million people in Chile interacted with at least one betting platform.
Prohibition Failing
Given this growth, it is increasingly clear that prohibition is no longer on the cards in Chile and regulation is just a question of time, allowing authorities to supervise the market while generating substantial tax revenues for the government.
Hitherto attempts to block access to online betting platforms has proved ineffective.
Chile’s Supreme Court has previously ordered Internet providers to block offshore betting sites, but the country’s telecommunications regulator, SUBTEL, later said it could not justify continuing to spend resources on enforcement that was having no results.
Operators simply switched URLs of their blocked platforms.
Although the judiciary declared offshore online gambling illegal, in practice the ability to enforce that ruling has been a failure.
Collusion
The three main land-based casino groups in Chile are also facing fresh difficulties since they became a target of a high-profile collusion investigation.
If found guilty, they face fines totalling US$152 million (£112.75m), as well as the possible revocation of licences allegedly obtained through anti-competitive practices.
The investigation was opened in October 2024 by Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor’s Office and is currently in the courts.
Manipulation
Dreams S.A., Enjoy S.A. and Marina del Sol–and five of their senior executives–are accused of colluding to manipulate the bidding process for casino licences.
Prosecutors allege the companies coordinated their bids to influence the outcome of licensing tenders – and they are seeking substantial fines as well as the cancellation of permits obtained through the alleged scheme.
Enjoy, historically controlled by the Martínez family, lost much of its ownership concentration following financial restructurings and debt-for-equity swaps that began in 2021.
Restructuring
The company is currently undergoing a difficult financial period marked by restructuring efforts and ongoing asset sales, with ownership now spread among brokerage firms and financial institutions.
A third major land-based casino operator, Marina del Sol, runs casinos primarily in the port city of Talcahuano and the copper-mining town of Calama. The business is owned by Canadian investment group Clairvest Group Inc. along with Empresas Valmar, companies linked to Chilean businessman Nicolás Imschenetzky.
The Chilean Casinos and Gaming Association (ACCJ) has long argued that online betting is illegal because it lacks regulation.
But bookies maintain that the lack of regulation of itself does not make online betting illegal.
