Colombia’s gambling regulator Coljuegos has confirmed that the sector has transferred more than COP4 trillion ($1.07 billion) to the country’s healthcare system since 2022 — the largest contribution made under any single administration in the regulator’s history. The figure represents 44.46% of the COP9.2 trillion total transferred to Colombian healthcare since Coljuegos was established in 2012.
Coljuegos President Marco Emilio Hincapié hailed the milestone at the 10th Ibero-American Gaming Summit in Bogotá, describing the Petro government as having “made history in the industry” and expressing confidence that 2026 would deliver yet another record.
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2026 already ahead of pace
The early numbers back up that confidence. Between January and May 2026 alone, the sector generated COP532.573 billion in revenue — a trajectory that puts a new annual record firmly within reach.
“During our administration, the gambling sector has experienced its best period ever,” Hincapié said. “In 2026, we will surpass our own previous figures.”
VAT pressures complicate the picture
Despite the milestone, Colombia’s gambling industry is operating under significant fiscal pressure. In 2025, the sector absorbed a 19% VAT on deposits introduced to fund the government’s response to civil disturbances in the Catatumbo region. The impact was immediate and severe — trade body Fecoljuegos reported a 30% drop in online GGR within two months of the VAT’s introduction.
That VAT expired at the end of 2025, but the relief was short-lived. An emergency decree briefly reintroduced it on a GGR basis before the Constitutional Court stepped in to suspend it. Then, in March 2026, Decree 0240 imposed a new 16% VAT on GGR in response to flooding across the country — reigniting industry anxiety about the cumulative impact of repeated emergency tax measures.
The role of trusted online casinos
The broader lesson from Colombia’s experience is one that resonates across regulated markets worldwide. The gambling sector’s ability to generate record healthcare contributions depends on a healthy, growing licensed market — and that market depends on players choosing regulated platforms over offshore alternatives. Trusted online casinos operating within Colombia’s legal framework are not just contributing to public health funding; they are the foundation upon which the entire system rests. When emergency taxes erode the competitiveness of trusted online casinos relative to unlicensed operators, the damage extends far beyond the balance sheets of individual companies — it ultimately reduces the public health funding that makes the sector’s social contribution meaningful.
A delicate balance ahead
Colombia’s gambling sector stands at a crossroads. The record healthcare contributions demonstrate what a well-functioning regulated market can deliver. But the repeated imposition of emergency VAT measures — and their documented impact on online GGR — raises a fundamental question: can the government continue to extract record levels of public health funding from a sector whose growth it is simultaneously suppressing? The answer to that question will define Colombian gambling regulation for years to come.
