Snapshot: remote gambling in Colombia
Expert insight provided by Juan Camilo Carrasco and Juliana Duque from Asensi Abogados. 

Is remote gambling permitted and, if so, what types?
Online gaming falls into the category of novelty games under the national level of regulation; therefore, Coljuegos, as the national regulator, provides the licensing regime and the conditions of operation. Operators are entitled to apply for any of these products:

  • betting on real sporting events and real non-sporting events that could be offered in a fixed-odds or exchange betting format;  

  • random number generator games, including virtual games, bingo, slots, blackjack, roulette, instant prize games, baccarat and poker; and

  • live casino games (any game).  

Among the restrictions, offering pari-mutuel betting on sporting events and horse racing events is prohibited, as these are regulated at the regional level. There are also special restrictions on events related specifically to bets on financial markets and cryptocurrencies, or that provide betting on the results of lotteries. Bets may not be placed on real events similar in style to lotteries.

What are the criteria for obtaining a licence to operate remote gambling?
The interested party must comply with the legal, technical, AML and financial requirements and list the games it wants to offer in its gaming portfolio.

The online gaming regulations do not specify a specific number of operators or a specific period for which authorisations are available. The concessions will be granted by Coljuegos to operators for periods lasting between three and five years, with only one concession contract per entity.

A local presence through a local company incorporated in Colombia is required (the operator can only be a Colombian commercial company, or a foreign branch incorporated in Colombia). As players’ funds must be managed locally, a bank account in a Colombian financial entity authorised by the Superintendency of Finance is required. 

Applicants must prove that they comply with certain financial indicators that are defined by the resolution setting up the conditions and guarantees for applicants, with the requirement that Colombian domain names be ‘.co’ (‘.com’ sites are not allowed).

With regard to the location of the technical components, only the data warehouse, the vault and the capturer, must be located in Colombia, and there are no further requirements on the locations for other components; therefore, the main servers can be located anywhere in the world.

The operator must have all the technical gaming system components certified by a certification laboratory approved in Colombia by Coljuegos. Games must be certified to have a minimum return to the player (RTP) of 83 per cent for slots, and real events must comply with the theoretical RTP formula.

The guarantees requested from operators are the following: 

  • an insurance compliance guarantee;

  • a liability guarantee (civil tort); and

  • a fiduciary or bank guarantee to cover prize payments and reimbursement of players’ funds. The initial minimum amount for this guarantee is approximately US$200,000. The value of the coverage must be updated annually.

In connection with the insurance compliance guarantee and the liability guarantee, the value of the concession contract and the premium value will be based on a projection of the future movements of the gross gambling revenue (GGR) that the operator expects to obtain during the concession contract.

Additionally, by the end of 2023, the regulator modified the resolution which contains the checklist that any company must comply with to obtain the licence, namely, execute the concession contract. In this regard, Coljuegos added a new legal requirement that was the submission of a written technical study that supports the future projection of the GGR. However, it is not clear which kind of information the regulator wants to review, considering such a projection is not binding for the operator because, in the end, the exploitation rights are liquidated according to the real income obtained every month.

How do the licensing criteria for remote gambling operators differ from those applicable to land-based operators?
Online and land-based gambling are licensed provided that the legal, financial and technical requirements are fulfilled. The regulator does not provide any substantial differences, apart from the rules that internet-operated games can only be operated by companies or foreign branches incorporated in Colombia and land-based concessions could be granted to natural persons. 

Other types of gaming such as lotto are authorised through a public tender and, for those products, only one concession contract can be granted.

May operators located in other countries offer internet gambling to consumers in your jurisdiction without obtaining a licence there?
Any type of gambling offered in Colombia is considered illegal if the offer comes from any individual without an authorisation from the national regulator, by any means. The game of chance industry in Colombia is a government monopoly.

May operators licensed in your jurisdiction offer internet gambling to consumers in other countries?
No, the limitation stated in the regulation is that operators must be Colombian nationals or legal residents of Colombia from other countries with national identification or special permits for Venezuelan nationals.

What tax rate applies to each form of remote gambling?
The Gambling Act states two types of fees for the gambling industry: exploitation rights (royalties) and administrative fees. Gaming duties are presented as an annual fixed and a variable exploitation rights payment, as follows: 

  • fixed: an annual fixed rate calculated as 811 times the legal monthly minimum wage per year of operation, plus 1 per cent over the fixed exploitation rights payment as administrative expenses; and

  • variable: 15 per cent on gross gambling revenue, plus 1 per cent over the variable exploitation rights payment as administrative expenses. RTP must be equal to at least 83 per cent (or 17 per cent of turnover), and real events betting must comply with the theoretical RTP formula. 

For poker and exchange betting, the 15 per cent variable rate applies to the commission that the operator charges to the players.

Online gaming is excluded from value added tax and municipally tax.