Colombia’s gaming watchdog Coljuegos announced on Thursday that the industry has contributed more than COP4 trillion ($1.07 billion) to the country’s health system since 2022.
Since Gustavo Petro took office as Colombia’s president in 2022, COP4.01 trillion has been raised via taxes and directed to the healthcare system, exceeding the total from any prior government.
This amount represents 44.46% of the COP9.2 trillion total that the gambling industry has transferred to Colombian healthcare since Coljuegos was established in 2012.
Coljuegos President Marco Emilio Hincapié stated that Petro’s administration “made history in the sector,” while expressing his certainty that 2026 would be a record year for healthcare funding in Colombia.
“Under our leadership, the gaming sector has seen its strongest performance ever,” Hincapié remarked at the 10th Ibero-American Gaming Summit in Bogotá. “Just this year, from January to May, we’ve already generated COP532.573 billion in revenue.
“In 2026, we will exceed our own past numbers.”
VAT possibly affecting gaming tax collection
While Hincapié is optimistic about a landmark year for healthcare funding in Colombia, the gambling industry still confronts increasing tax burdens.
The sector faced a 19% value-added tax (VAT) on deposits for most of 2025, as the government aimed to finance its reaction to unrest in the Catatumbo region.
That VAT lapsed at year-end, and while it was reinstated on a GGR foundation through an emergency order, it was later entirely halted by the Constitutional Court.
Nevertheless, in March the government published Decree 0240, enforcing a 16% VAT on GGR as an urgent measure against flooding in the nation.
This has sparked worry within the industry, particularly after the trade group Fecoljuegos disclosed in April last year that Colombia’s online GGR had fallen 30% since the original VAT was introduced two months earlier.