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Chile: Talca casino operator requests to block Dreams from starting operations

Casino de Juego Talca filed a legal challenge accusing regulators of failing to verify the source of a 165% funding increase approved for a competing project in Chile's Maule region.

1 min read
Chile
Key Points
Casino de Juego Talca SA asked Comptroller General Dorothy Pérez to reverse a decision in which her office abstained from ruling on alleged irregularities in the licensing of a casino project led by Sociedad de Ríos Claros SA, linked to the Dreams group
The SCJ approved a budget increase for the Ríos Claros project without conducting a new evaluation of the source or sufficiency of the added financing, according to the filing

Casino de Juego Talca SA has asked the Superintendencia de Casinos de Juego (SCJ) to block the issuance of the certificate needed for a competing casino to begin operations.

The request was filed through lawyer Pablo Berwart Tudela on behalf of Casino de Juego Talca SA, the historic operator of the casino license in Chile's Maule region. 

The company is asking Comptroller General Dorothy Pérez to overturn the Oficio N° 146546-2026, but the Comptroller General's Office abstained from ruling on the matter because two related complaints remain before the Supreme Court.

The company argues that those court cases concern separate issues, including the project's location on land it says is flood-prone, while its administrative complaint focuses solely on whether the SCJ verified the financing behind the licensed project awarded to Ríos Claros SA.

According to the filing, the SCJ authorized the funding increase in January 2025, without reassessing where the additional financing would come from. The regulator later confirmed in an August 2025 communication that it considered adjusting the guarantee bond sufficient to approve the change.

Berwart said in the filing: “Performance guarantees and financing are distinct legal and economic concepts.”

The complaint also cites a 2025 comptroller audit that found the SCJ's fund verification process for other Dreams projects, including in Chiloé and Coyhaique, applied stricter standards, rejecting financing based on letters of intent there while accepting a similar structure for the Talca project.

The Séptima Sala of the Santiago Court of Appeals rejected the operator's earlier illegality claims in February 2025, validating the award to Ríos Claros SA. That ruling is separate from the financial complaint now before the comptroller's office.

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The disputed project's built area also grew substantially under the same approval, expanding from 7,056 square meters to 43,700 square meters

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