The Colombian gaming regulatory body submitted a request to the Cybernetic Police Center. The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, supported the request.
Colombia.- The Management of Control of Illegal Operations of Coljuegos requested the Cybernetic Police Center to block 289 social media profiles such as Facebook and Instagram that have conducted raffles, bingos, promotions, or advertising for unauthorized betting houses in the country.
Among the profiles reported by the entity are users like “Lechoneitor”, “epa_colombia”, “la_liendraa”, “yefersoncossio”, “motormaniacolombia”, “javier.arias.stunt”, among others, as well as profiles of illegal betting houses.
In this regard, Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos, stated: “We have asked the multinational Meta to block these and other profiles that operate games of chance without state authorization, or that promote foreign betting houses that do not pay the respective exploitation rights in our country”.
He added: “We estimate that, each year, about COP70.000m (USD15.9m) are lost in health funds for Colombians due to illegal raffles. Therefore, it is essential that multinationals like Meta join the fight against this criminal behavior”.
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, backed the request from Coljuegos and wrote on his X account: “There can be no tax evasion in online games of chance. Any page that promotes them makes its owner an accomplice to tax evasion”, and added: “Games of chance are a rentistic monopoly of the nation, according to the constitution, and their taxes go exclusively to health”.
It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the blocking requests, Coljuegos is currently advancing 35 administrative sanctioning processes against influencers and companies for the alleged illegal operation of games of chance. Similarly, 79 additional profiles of people who have not been identified are being investigated.
See also: Coljuegos transferred to the Colombian Prosecutor's Office more than 360 cases of alleged operation of illegal bets
“In addition to these profiles, during our administration we have issued 7,631 blocking requests for websites that operated games illegally. This indicates that, for the first time in the history of the entity, we are decisively confronting the virtual illegal bets that defraud the health system”, assured Hincapié.
It is important to highlight that the operation of games of chance without authorization is a crime contemplated in article 312 of the Penal Code. Additionally, those found guilty could receive a sanction of 100 legal minimum monthly wages.
