Chile's Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) closed its latest licensing round for five casino concessions — Pucón, Coquimbo, Iquique, Viña del Mar and Puerto Varas — with qualifying bids on just two. Iquique and Viña del Mar drew no offers at all, while Puerto Varas attracted two operators who were both disqualified on documentation grounds.
The sole bidder for Pucón was Casino Volcán Pucón S.A., led by Andrés Raggio, former treasurer of Enjoy. Gonzalo Grob, who ran Enjoy Pucón from 2018 to April 2025, will serve as general manager. The team includes several other ex-Enjoy executives: operations director Pierre Paolo Zacarelli, corporate projects manager Oscar Mayorga, and lawyer Daniela Bavlica. The bid relies on retaining existing staff, operating from the current site (the building was purchased with bank financing), and upgrading the events space for conferences during the low season.
Puerto Varas: competition without result
Two operators competed for Puerto Varas: Corporación Meier, a Peruvian group active in Talca and Puerto Natales, and Dreams, the current operator linked to businessman Claudio Fischer. SCJ disqualified both and declared the process void. It will now relaunch with revised requirements.
Meier was rejected for an incomplete submission, missed deadlines and tax debts owed by shareholders in other concessions (Maule, Antofagasta, Patagonia). Dreams was disqualified for lack of CMF registration, 16 missing tax certificates, and debts held by related entities. Both companies challenged the rulings. Dreams noted that its economic proposal was never opened and that formal shortcomings had previously been resolved through consultation rather than disqualification. Meier called the shifting criteria a source of uncertainty for foreign investors.
Five of the seven tenders held in 2026 ended without a winner. Operators attribute the outcome to unpredictable procedures — the same issue the industry is asking regulators to avoid as they work on online betting rules.
