Kaizen Gaming Colombia, owner of the Betano.co brand, was authorized by Coljuegos to operate online betting in the country. With this new operator, there are now 16 web platforms that have the approval of the entity to market games of chance online.

“We continue to strengthen the online gaming industry. We hope that, with the entry of this new operator, we can continue to increase transfers for the health of Colombians. At this time, the platform is already operating for the betting public,” said Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos.

The entity is also in the process of authorizing an additional operator called Bingo Casino, which is expected to begin offering bets in the coming weeks.

It is worth mentioning that, by 2024, it is estimated that online betting portals will pay around $419,527 million to Coljuegos for exploitation rights, which represents an increase of 31% compared to the same period in 2023. All of these resources are transferred to the health system.

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“We are seeing that online betting is a sector of the economy that has driven the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. That is why we are working to make the market even more attractive and to provide more options to bettors,” said the president.

According to financial projections, this new operator is expected to pay Coljuegos around $21.513 billion over the next five years for operating rights and administration costs, resources that can be transferred to subsidize health and scientific research.

The Illegal Operations Control Department destroyed 574 gambling items that had been seized because they were operating without authorization in departments such as Cundinamarca, Atlántico, Valle del Cauca, among others, and which stopped transferring around $63.545 million to the health system.

“The destroyed items were valued at around $169 million and belonged to criminal structures that were dedicated to operating games of chance and luck without authorization and without paying the respective monopoly rents,” said Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos.

Among the destroyed items were electronic slot machines, bingo chairs, roulette wheels, poker tables, Keno and online betting modules, each of them composed of computers, CPUs, televisions, ticket machines, among others.

“In total, we have completed 7,934 destroyed items, valued at more than $1.5 billion. Due to these illegal activities, the health system has lost more than $200 billion in recent years, resources that would have allowed us to serve more Colombians under the subsidized regime,” said the president of the entity.

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Hincapié also said that in the coming days, Coljuegos will continue destroying another 117 electronic slot machines, 350 bingo elements (chairs, tables and boards), 8 poker tables and 252 sports betting modules.

“Never before has an administration attacked illegality in the industry so strongly. We are doing this at the behest of our president Gustavo Petro, who has always asked us to fight corruption and to decisively strike the mafias that operate unauthorized games in various regions of the country,” said Hincapié.

It is worth mentioning that illegal gambling organizations in Colombia are failing to pay the State around $1.5 billion annually for exploitation rights, resources that could be allocated to the health of low-income citizens.

Coljuegos, the Gambling Authority of Colombia, has published plans for a “regulatory project” to overhaul the rules on owning and operating electronic slot machines (ESMs).

The regulator plans to initiate the project in 2024, a move deemed critical as Coljuegos seeks to terminate the “illegal economy” of unauthorized ESMs operating across Colombia’s 32 federal territories.

The project is accompanied by a “public comment period” open until 14 December, to allow industry stakeholders and interested parties to submit feedback on initial proposals.

According to Coljuegos, the project aims to promote “territorial development with the replacement of illegal economies with legal ones, considering the productive capacities of intervened areas.”

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The market size of illegal ESMs is estimated to be worth up to COP 945bn (€220m), accounting for approximately 34% of the total ESM marketplace.

Coljuegos estimates that 50,000 illegal machines are operating across Colombian territories, causing a significant loss of income to the state.

The project’s initial requirements call for all venues operating ESMs to certify their business status with Coljuegos. This requirement is essential as Coljuegos will implement new criteria for land-based venues to operate ESMs based on legality, the principle of opportunity, and the promotion of peace.

“It is imperative that companies wishing to collaborate with Coljuegos comply with this condition to guarantee equity and trust in the selection procedures,” the authority emphasized.

Once the process is advanced, Coljuegos will publish the schedule, procedures, and other financial requirements for those businesses wishing to operate licensed ESMs.

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The regulator initially proposed to limit the number of machines to 80 per operator, with the exact number dependent on the size of the venue and the population of the local area. The project also outlines the tender’s duration, certification for gaming machines, prize limits, and the identification of technology suppliers.

From 1 January 2024, Coljuegos will become the central monitor of gambling advertising, and Colombian operators will undertake significant regulatory changes.

Licensed operators will abide by a new “tiered system” of advertising, whereby the more revenue an operator contributes to the state in taxes, the greater allowance they will be granted to spend on marketing campaigns.