Colombian senate to review tax on online gambling

The sector has been identified for review to potentially provide funding for planned welfare and healthcare reforms.

Colombia.- The Colombian senate has confirmed that it will start a review of tax on online gambling as the government seeks to make welfare and healthcare reforms. Senator Antonio Correa, Partido de la Union, is to lead the debate in the upper house from Friday, February 16.

Senators will review the current tax rates on online gambling: 15 per cent on the GGR of licensed operators with a return-to-player (RTP) rate of 83 per cent of total stakes and 17 per cent on those whose RTP rate is higher. No proposal for new percentages has yet been communicated, but Correa has noted that the sector had been identified as one where taxation would be reviewed with an aim to increase funding for health.

Correa said that the Senate was aware that the topic was sensitive due to the funding the gambling sector provides for Colombian sports leagues and media.  

Coljuegos’s annual financial report up to October 2023 declared tax takings of COL $750bn (€166m), designated to public health projects as the regulator’s primary social directive.

President Gustavo Petro pledged to reform health and welfare in Colombia after his election last year. However, his approach has led to disagreements, including with Roger Carrillo Ocampo, the former president of the Colombian gambling regulator Coljuegos. Ocampo was replaced by Marco Emilio Hincapié Ramírez.

In December, Coljuegos outlined plans to reform the rules for the ownership and operation of electronic slot machines. The regulator says it seeks to eradicate the prevalence of unauthorised machines.

In October, Coljuegos provided more details on its plans to regulate gambling advertising in Colombia. It has issued a resolution that would give it responsibility for overseeing all gambling advertising, marketing, sponsorships and “any other form of commercial communication”.

Colombia became the first country in South America to legalise online gambling in 2016, when it updated its 2001 Gambling Act. Regulated online gambling began in 2017, with the market open to both domestic and overseas operators.