Cecilia Valdés: "We don't want to rest on the need and urgency to advance in modern legislation for Chile's online casino industry”

Within the framework of the recent edition of SBC Summit Latinoamerica, held last week in Miami, a panel focused on the current situation of the Chilean online gaming market and the delay in its legislative regularization was held.

Cecilia Valdés, Executive President of the Chilean Association of Gaming Casinos (ACCJ) spoke exclusively with Yogonet about this situation, which we were informed of a month ago.

During the panel discussion, some statements made to our website were mentioned, which expressed the concern of the ACCJ regarding the little progress made on the legislative issue concerning online gaming in Chile. What is the current situation?

Effectively, the discussion on online gaming in our country has slowed down a lot. A year ago we thought that its processing would be faster, but we saw that since March and April, the discussion has been at a standstill due to several contingencies that we have had in Chile.

We understand legislative times, but this does not mean that we are going to sit back and do nothing. We understand that there is currently a discussion underway on the national budget. This issue is being dealt with by the Finance Committee, where the bill is housed, but the analysis of other issues should be carried out in parallel.

Obviously for us, as an industry, it is very important to regulate (online gambling). Therefore, we are insisting on resuming the conversations, both in Congress as well as on the part of the Executive Power, which is the driving force behind this project.

In short, we do not want to rest on the need and urgency for Chile to advance in modern legislation for the online casino industry.

Given you represent an important sector of the national economy, you must have had direct political contacts with legislators and other members of Congress. Do you consider that there is a political will to move forward with this issue, or, given next year's elections and the current situation in Chile, are there no intentions to advance?

For some months now, we have not had this type of contact, as we understood that the political sector was focused on other issues, an element that is obviously reflected when reading the Chilean newspapers. One knows when to enter and when not to enter this type of conversation, and we are waiting for the budgetary discussion to advance so that we can insist on the need to regulate online gaming.

We are going to resume the conversations, now near the end of the year, thinking that in January the Commission will resume with a different agenda than the one they had. Therefore, we hope to once again generate the necessary connections with the corresponding parties to be able to continue advancing in the project.

Do you have hope that in 2025 the topic will be discussed or, as it was said in the panel, it is a topic destined not to advance until 2026? Do you think that the times will perhaps be even longer and that we will probably have to wait until 2027?

No, I believe that this issue will be discussed in 2025 since it cannot remain dormant for another year. It is an issue that does not withstand that analysis. As I was saying, Chile has legislation, and it is a very serious country. We cannot afford the luxury of putting off a bill for three years when parliamentarians see that the platforms are now operating everywhere. It is enough to turn on the television and realize that the platforms are there, operating.

Therefore, the idea of keeping us in suspense, or of doing nothing, does not stand up to much analysis. I am confident, and I hope I am not wrong, that in 2025 we will have a more active discussion on the project and hopefully we will achieve significant progress to provide a much clearer legal framework for online gambling.