Chile ends two Puerto Varas casino-permit bids

Chile's Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) has ended two Puerto Varas casino-permit evaluations without awarding an operating permit and will begin a new process for the municipality.

The SCJ published the outcome on 18 August 2026 after Exempt Resolutions No. 821 and No. 822 appeared in the Diario Oficial. Both resolutions are dated 11 August and formalise decisions by the regulator's Consejo Resolutivo concerning separate technical bids.

Inversiones y Turismo Puerto Varas S.A. and Sociedad Quiquilhue S.A. were the applicants. The SCJ said neither company fully complied with the legal and regulatory requirements in the Bases Tecnicas governing its process.

Two failures, one procedural result

The resolutions end the technical-evaluation stage for each applicant. Under the rules cited by the SCJ, failure to meet the applicable requirements is an express ground for ending that stage without an award. The Consejo Resolutivo therefore terminated both evaluations and declared both processes unsuccessful.

The outcome is narrow but final for the current procedures: neither applicant receives the Puerto Varas operating permit through these evaluations. The notice does not revoke an existing licence, impose a sanction or make an enforcement finding against a current casino operator.

The distinction matters because the decision concerns the completeness of bids against the governing technical bases, not continuing compliance by an authorised operator. It closes the two applications at the evaluation stage and returns the municipality's licensing opportunity to the process-design stage.

The SCJ notice does not identify the particular legal, regulatory or technical requirements that either applicant failed to satisfy. It also does not say whether either company will be eligible to enter the next process. Those questions cannot be resolved from the published announcement alone.

A new process needs new conditions

The SCJ said it will initiate a new Puerto Varas process under Law No. 19.995 and its implementing regulations. Before new bids can be assessed, the authority will define the special conditions to be incorporated into revised Bases Tecnicas.

That means the next operative document is not another decision on the two unsuccessful bids. It is the future set of special conditions and technical bases for the replacement process. Those materials will establish the requirements against which prospective applicants are assessed.

The 18 August announcement gives no date for publication of the revised conditions, no opening date for new applications and no timetable for a future award. It therefore creates a monitoring point rather than a current filing deadline.

Prospective applicants can treat the previous outcome as evidence that the SCJ will apply the technical bases as an award-stage gate. They cannot assume, however, that the replacement conditions will repeat the terms of the unsuccessful processes; the regulator has said the special conditions will be defined again.

The next accountable step is to monitor the SCJ for the revised Bases Tecnicas and the launch timetable. Until those are published, there is no new Puerto Varas application window to calendar.