Chile to Soften Draconian Anti-Gambling Laws for Cruise Ship Casinos

Posted: August 8, 2011

Updated: October 4, 2017

Chile legislation is working to amend Chilean gambling laws in an effort to promote tourism and welcome casino cruise ships.

The country of Chile, which views casino gambling on par with blasphemy, child pornography and cannibalism all combined, has finally decided to ease up on Chilean gambling laws in an effort to boost the country’s slumping tourism industry.

To attract more international cruise ships to stop at Chilean ports of call, the country’s legislation has decided to wave the current requirement ordering all international cruise liners to close down onboard casinos while in Chilean territorial waters.

According to online gambling news in Chile, the current law forces casinos on board cruise liners to close down all gambling operations up to five to eight hours prior to docking in Chile, which is a huge inundation to the passengers who enjoy gambling.

Chilean independent MP Marinovic Miodrag has introduced legislation to amend Chilean gambling law # 19,995 which so far was met with approval during initial debates. MP Miodrag refused to comment if during next year’s legislative session he plans to introduce the long await law to regulate casinos and online bingo games in Chile.

"We believe this is an important project that will allow us to have more international cruise liners operating in our waters," said the MP, thus "we believe that with the possibility of having onboard casinos based on the total number of rooms the cruise liner has, will allow Chilean businesses to benefit within our channels."

Thousands of cruise ships each year entirely avoid the country of Chile as they cruise on their way to Antarctica. Without the stopover in Chile, cruise ships can significantly increase profits from the extra hours passengers spend gambling onboard.