Chile's National Association of Professional Football given 30 days to cancel contracts with online sportsbooks

The Chilean Ministry of Justice and Human Rights announced the decision to grant a term of 30 working days to the National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) so that it "leaves without effect" the contracts signed with online sports betting operators, which carry out an activity "outside the law".

In a press conference, the Chilean Undersecretary of Justice, Jaime Gajardo, pointed out that, in accordance with the legislation in force and the arguments of the Superintendence of Gaming Casinos, the Executive considers that the operation of the bookmakers constitutes "an activity that is carried out outside the law" and that "has no regulatory basis" in the Constitution. 

"We have determined that these contracts that the  Football Federation of Chile (ANFP) has with these third parties that carry out online betting with domicile abroad are not allowed in the national legislation. Therefore, there is nothing else to do but to leave them without effect", Gajardo stated.

He also explained that the ANFP is a non-profit organization and that, according to the Civil Code, the Ministry of Justice is empowered to supervise it so that it "complies with its corporate purpose, which is to carry out activities of public interest".

"As such, they cannot have contracts with other companies or other organizations that carry out illegal activities in our country," he pointed out.

Chilean Undersecretary of Justice, Jaime Gajardo

Meanwhile, the official warned that "non-compliance with these instructions entitles the Ministry of Justice, in accordance with the legislation in force, to request the State Defense Council to dissolve or terminate the legal entity".

It is worth mentioning that the auditing process carried out for the ANFP by the Ministry of Justice was requested in August 2022 by a group of deputies who warned that the online betting houses did not have a regulatory framework.

In January of this year, the ANFP and the bookmaker Betsson entered into a three-year agreement for the sponsorship of the First Division soccer league in Chile, a tournament currently known as the Betsson Championship. The accepted offer was $2.5 million, with progressive amounts until the end of the contract.

Soccer clubs to be reviewed

Undersecretary Jaime Gajardo also announced that the ANFP has been asked to report on the legal nature of its members in order to analyze whether they also have contracts with bookmakers and, eventually, "determine whether these instructions also apply to them."

In this context, the official explained that the associated clubs could be associations, sports corporations, or sports societies, which have other regulatory frameworks. "Based on this, we will analyze whether the instructions we have issued for the ANFP also apply to the rest of the members of this association," he said.