Chile opens two casino operating permits, one of them reserved for Aysén
Chile's casino regulator began a new licensing process on 20 October 2026 for two operating permits — one available nationally and one held in reserve for the Aysén region. Applicants have until 3 November to put questions to the Superintendencia, and the hearing at which technical and economic offers are presented is set for 12 April 2027.
The Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego announced on 20 October 2026 that it has started the process of awarding two casino operating permits. One is a place available at national level; the other is the reserved quota for the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo region, Chile's thinly populated Patagonian region, where Dreams Coyhaique is currently the licensed house.
The process was opened by Resoluciones Exentas N°992 and N°993, both dated 14 October 2026, with the technical bases authorised the same day by Resoluciones Exentas N°989 and N°990. Interested companies have ten working days — until 3 November 2026 — to submit questions, after which the Superintendencia has fifteen days to answer them. Applicants then have 120 working days to prepare their technical and economic offers, and the hearing at which those offers are presented is scheduled for Monday 12 April 2027 at 10:00 at the regulator's offices at Morandé 360 in Santiago. The Superintendencia must evaluate the technical offers within 120 working days of that hearing. Both new applications and renewals of existing permits go through the same process.
Why the timing matters
Chile's licensed estate is not static, and two of the regulator's own recent decisions show why. In August 2026 the Consejo Resolutivo closed the technical evaluation of the two bids for a casino in the comuna of Puerto Varas — from Inversiones y Turismo Puerto Varas S.A. and Sociedad Quiquilhue S.A. — and declared both processes void, stating that neither company had fully met the legal and regulatory requirements in the technical bases. The regulator said it would open a fresh process for Puerto Varas under Ley N° 19.995, with the special conditions set again.
Separately, three of the Enjoy group's register entries — Viña del Mar, Pucón and Coquimbo — carry a note explaining that where the Consejo Resolutivo accepts an operating company's resignation from its permit, that permit expires three years after the extract of the accepting resolution is published in the Diario Oficial. For players, none of this changes anything on the floor tomorrow; it is the slower question of which houses are open in five years, and in which towns.
What it does not tell you
The permit process says nothing about games. The regulator's register names no table games for any Chilean casino, and Chilean law obliges every licensed house to offer roulette, card games, dice, bingo and slot machines — an obligation that an operator can satisfy with dealer-banked card games rather than a player-versus-player poker room. Anyone travelling for live poker in Chile should check with the individual house rather than reading a licence as a poker guarantee.
Read the original at Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego →
Frequently asked questions
When is the deadline to ask questions about the Chilean permit process?
3 November 2026, ten working days from the opening. The Superintendencia then has fifteen days to answer.
When will the offers be presented?
At a hearing on Monday 12 April 2027 at 10:00, at the regulator's offices at Morandé 360 in Santiago.
Does a Chilean casino licence mean the house spreads poker?
No. Chilean law requires licensed casinos to offer card games, but that obligation can be met with dealer-banked table games rather than a player-versus-player poker room.