Casinos in Chile

Skip To The List of Casinos

Introduction

This overview provides information regarding the Chilean gambling industry, its workings throughout history, in-country legality, the most renowned land-based casinos present in the country, and much more.

Still, before we jump to the subject at hand, meaning the casinos and general gambling activities in Chile, let's take a walk through the country itself to get a better understanding of the location where we find ourselves.

Chile, officially known as the Republic of Chile, is a country situated in South America, more precisely being the southernmost country in the world being only 6.573 km far from Antarctica.

The country’s landscape is rich in every sense with impressive mountains, miles of deserts, wild forests, and even glaciers in the southern region of the country.

The country takes up 745,102 square kilometers and is home to a population that counts around 17.5 million people.

Speaking of the people, there’s a fair amount of cultural diversity present, mixing the citizens that stem from the Spanish colonial times as well as many indigenous people primarily Mapuche, but also Rapandi, Chango, Yagan, and Atacameno, to name a few.

The country’s capital city Santiago (also known as Santiago de Chile) is one of the largest cities in the Americas with a population of citizens that counts around 5 million people.

It is important to make a distinction between the city of Santiago and the Santiago Province, part of which is the commune of Santiago (also called downtown and central), as well as the Greater Santiago, called Gran Santiago by the locals.

Some of the most prominent tourist destinations to visit in this diverse country are Torres del Paine National Park, Rapa Nui National Park, Valley of the Moon, Carretera Austral, Valparaiso, the Eastern Island, and of course the Santiago as a city in general.

Speaking of tourism, casinos and other gambling resorts have been directly tied to the influx of tourists, given that those localities are primarily aimed toward visitors from other countries, as tourism grew, so more and more casinos started to emerge.

Nowadays casinos are widespread throughout the country in all regions, including the country’s long and famous coastline that makes 6,435 kilometers.

Some of the most popular gambling locales in the country include casinos and other resorts like Monticello Grand Casino, Club Hipico Santiago de Chile, Casino Dreams Iquique, Casino del Pacifico, Casino Marina del Sol, and Valparaiso Sporting Club.

This growth of casinos most notably started in the early 2000s, as during the previous years gambling resorts were nowhere near as widespread as it has been for the last twenty years, continuing to expand and grow strong.

Besides the growth of tourism, there is another particular reason that changed the course of history in the country, when it comes to gambling activities.

History of Gambling

The history of gambling in Chile is quite interesting in terms that, while casinos have been a part of the country from the 1930’s, it hasn’t just much nor generally expanded in any meaningful way, until the more recent years.

For almost sixty years, the casino industry has remained pretty much the same, and although there wasn't a lack of land-based casinos and other resorts that provided gambling activities in the country, it couldn't be said that the industry was booming.

The change came in the 1990s as more and more casinos began to open and what made the most significant impact that lasts to today was the adoption of a law in 2005 that allowed new casinos to open in all parts of the country.

As such, Chile now counts over 30 casinos, whether standalone or as a part of hotels and other resorts, and the industry seems to be getting stronger each year, as it was estimated that in 2022 only the revenue was around 10.84 million dollars.

Legislation and Jurisdiction

Gambling throughout the entire country is regulated by Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (abbreviated as SCJ), which is an autonomous governmental body of law with the power to grant permits and close the casinos that don't meet the standards.

This legal body covers all of the regions and is as of now giving permits to the casinos across the entire country, except for the Metropolitan Region and the Region of Valparaiso, as those reach the maximum of the casinos with operating permits.

It is worth noting that Chilean law does not have a strict and concise definition of gambling, but it makes a clear distinction between the games of chance and games of intellectual or physical skill.

Generally speaking, games of chance are considered illegal in the country, except in the case that they’ve been properly authorized by a particular law that is a part of the Chilean Criminal Code, which clearly prohibits illegal gambling activities.

The country in particular prohibits using slot machines outside of land-based casinos, meaning that online gambling as opposed to on-location gambling in casinos and resorts is deemed illegal in Chile.

Popular Spots & Games

Chilean land-based casinos, of which there are plenty of lavish locales to be found across the country, provide all kinds of casino games, as well as slot machines and poker machines.

The generally most popular classic casino games such as roulette, and sicbo, as well as card games like baccarat, blackjack, and poker, all can be found at these gambling environments.

Although all of these gambling activities have their dedicated clientele, among the bunch, three casino games stand out as the most popular in the country.

The most common way for gamblers to immerse in their favorite activities in Chile is via the ever-beloved slot machines, which makes sense, being that those are the easiest ones to benefit from, requiring little skill and relying mostly on luck.

Card games would be the opposite of that, as those demand a certain level of skill to play properly and the one that is most regularly played in Chilean casinos is blackjack.

Lastly, roulette always invites big crowds of punters, and roulette tables in the casinos across the entire country are usually pretty full.

Besides that, sports betting is also quite popular in Chile and the country houses many sportsbooks, with the most prominent sport to bet on being Football, as South America in general has some of the strongest football leagues in the world.

Banking

Due to the large number of tourists that visit Chile each year, the country supports a variety of banking methods for money transactions, including various e-wallets, as well as generally universal credit and debit cards such as MasterCard and Visa.

Besides the local Chilean banking services like Red Compra and the neighboring Peru’s Efectivo, well-known services like Neteller and Skrill are also supported in this country.

To Conclude

The casino industry in Chile stands as one of the better-developed ones in South America, aiming to provide all sorts of gambling games to punters and continuing on the path that was paved in 2005, promising to keep expanding through the years.

In this article, we have provided you with an insight into the country and now it is your turn to pack your bags and enjoy beautiful beaches, visit national parks and crowded, energetic cities, and put your skills to the test in the country’s most luxurious casinos.