The Colombian gambling regulatory authority Coljuegos has blocked 10,000 websites and social media profiles offering illegal betting in its latest crackdown on the black market.
In a press release, Coljuegos stated that a large number of these websites have been blocked because they were offering gambling activities without holding a local license, thus not paying the annual licensing fees.
Currently, only 16 websites in Colombia have been granted licenses to offer legal online gambling. These companies paid approximately 435.2 billion Colombian pesos (84.1 million pounds/101.2 million euros/104.5 million dollars) in licensing fees in 2024. Coljuegos transfers all this money to Colombia's subsidized healthcare system.
For licensees, this licensing fee is relatively high, being 811 times the minimum wage in Colombia.
The blocked sites in Colombia include virtual casinos and bingo halls, as well as sports betting operators offering illegal lottery activities.
Coljuegos revealed that the company is carrying out 35 administrative sanctions against influencers and companies that operate and support illegal gambling through social networks in Colombia.
Additionally, Coljuegos has also requested assistance from the National Police Cyber Center and tech giant Meta to block an additional 289 social media profiles that conduct lotteries and bingo games as well as advertising for unlicensed gambling operators.
Those who operate gambling illegally in Colombia will face a fine of 142,350,000 Colombian pesos. Coljuegos says this is 100 times the current minimum monthly wage in the country.
Blocking Illegal Websites to Protect the System
Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos, stated that blocking websites helps the government achieve better protection of the Colombian healthcare industry.
"Under our management, we have successfully and decisively combated illegal operators who, through fraudulent websites, operate games of chance and luck without authorization," Hincapié explained. "This is the highest number of portal websites we have ever blocked in our entity's history.
"Through this entity, we are complying with the directives of President Gustavo Petro: to combat illegal activities in the industry and protect the health resources of Colombians."
New Tax Worries Gambling Operators
In November, Betano, under Kaizen Gaming, increased the total number of licensed online operators in Colombia to 16. Betano, along with international operators such as Betsson and Rush Street Interactive's RushBet, received authorization.
However, the Colombian gambling industry suffered a potentially huge blow last week as the government once again proposed a new value-added tax on online gambling, at a rate of 19%. According to a legal explanation shared on LinkedIn by local lawyer Juan Camilo Carrasco, it is still unclear whether the 19% tax rate applies to turnover or deposits.
This tax has been reimplemented under a temporary emergency situation, with an initial period of 90 days.
Previously, the Colombian gambling operators association (Asojuegos) warned that this tax could have "devastating consequences" for the gambling industry, particularly by pushing players and operators towards the black market, hence the permanent implementation of this tax was halted last December.
