The Colombian lottery announced that it will closely follow the points established in the legality pact signed in 2024.
Colombia.- The Quindío Lottery began 2025 with the main goal of combating illegality in gambling in the department, through its commitment to the "pact for legality" signed in 2024.
Additionally, new strategies and actions such as working tables in different localities will be implemented, in order to inform about illegal practices and compliance with new regulations.
The manager of the Quindío Lottery, Carolina Jaramillo Quintero, stated that it is estimated that approximately 95 percent of these raffles operate illegally, evading the payment of essential taxes for the Colombian health system.
It is worth remembering that six months ago, the departments of Quindío, Risaralda, and Caldas signed an agreement with Coljuegos aimed at combating illegal betting in the region. Members of the so-called "Coffee Axis", the three departments committed to strengthening transparency, legality, and responsibility in the gambling sector. The main goal of the union was to increase the resources contributed by the region to health.
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At that time, Juan Miguel Galvis, governor of Quindío, declared: "With the signing of this pact, we are demonstrating our commitment to legality and ethics in all our actions. We reject illegality in games of chance, as well as the consequences it brings for our citizens," indicated Juan Miguel Galvis, governor of Quindío.
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, signed Decree 1486 on December 13, 2024, from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, through which the operation of games of chance in the form of raffles is regulated.
According to national authorities, the new decree seeks to create optimal legal conditions for the operation of raffles in the country, with the aim of increasing by about COP70,000m (USD15.9m) annually the health transfers from the operation of this type of games.
The decree establishes that raffles can be operated through third-party managers and through technological platforms. Additionally, results obtained through Random Number Generators (RNG) that ensure the transparency of the game can be used. This will allow the dynamization of this type of game and adapt it to current technological trends.
Moreover, the decree allows the holding of up to two monthly raffles (24 annually) for natural or legal persons (called managers) who are interested in marketing this type of games.
In this sense, the new regulation limits the number of raffles that can be held during the month, as well as the prohibition of cash prizes.
The managers must request the respective authorization from Coljuegos and pay the corresponding exploitation rights (14 percent of gross income, which equals 100 percent of the value of the tickets issued).
