Colombia's gambling regulatory body Coljuegos announced a milestone set of data this Thursday. Since the current President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022, the gambling industry has transferred over 4 trillion Colombian pesos (approximately 1.07 billion US dollars) in special taxes to the national healthcare system, a scale that surpasses the contributions of any previous government during the same period. This amount accounts for 44.46% of the total 9.2 trillion pesos transferred to the healthcare system by Coljuegos since its establishment in 2012. Marco Emilio Hincapié, the chairman of Coljuegos, spoke confidently at the 10th Ibero-American Gambling Summit held in Bogotá—the industry is experiencing its best period ever, with gambling-related tax revenues already reaching approximately 5325.73 billion pesos from January to May this year, and is expected to break all previous records by 2026.
The rapid growth behind Petro's tenure
Since its establishment in 2012, Coljuegos' function has always revolved around injecting gambling tax revenues into the healthcare system. The data during Petro's administration is particularly outstanding, reflecting not only the post-pandemic expansion of the gambling market in Colombia but also the continuous strengthening of policy execution and regulatory compliance. Hincapié did not shy away from the high-stakes interplay between the industry and regulation during his term—both pushing for tax revenue growth and maintaining market vitality without overextending compliance costs. Currently, Colombia's gambling market is mainly driven by online sports betting and online casinos, with several international operators entering in recent years, and the standardized taxation system for licensed operators playing a key role in tax contributions.
The shadow of VAT looms again over the industry's growth prospects
As Coljuegos celebrates the record-breaking transfer of funds to healthcare, the Colombian government's successive rounds of VAT imposition on the gambling industry are injecting uncertainty into this momentum. In 2025, the government had imposed a 19% VAT on gambling deposits to raise emergency funds for the unrest in the Catatumbo region. After this tax expired at the end of last year, the government attempted to convert it into a VAT on gross gambling revenue through an emergency decree, but it was immediately frozen by the Constitutional Court. However, in March this year, the government issued Decree No. 0240, imposing a 16% VAT on gross gambling revenue to address nationwide flooding. The industry trade body Fecoljuegos disclosed last April that just two months after the first round of VAT implementation, Colombia's online gambling gross revenue had already plummeted by 30%. If history repeats itself in 2026, the optimistic expectations Coljuegos expressed at the summit for continuing to break records may soon be heavily questioned by this double-edged sword hanging over the industry.
PASA official website continues to track the evolution of tax policies and industry compliance dynamics in the Latin American gambling market, noting that Colombia is at a crossroads where tax burdens are increasing and public healthcare spending needs are simultaneously climbing—gambling industry, as an important part of this, is finding the balance between tax contributions and resilience increasingly delicate.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel:https://t.me/pasa_news
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