Interactive

Colombia – More than 1.5m online players are now registered in Colombia

By Phil - 11 December 2018

According to regulator Coljuegos, since Colombia gave online gambling the green light 17 months ago the industry has generated $33,000m (US$10,560,000) for the health sector.

In addition, there are now more than 1,600,000 registered players playing via authorised online gambling websites, which in turn have awarded $1.3bn to players in prizes. The new figures were released by Head of Coljuegos Juan B. Pérez Hidalgo who added that online gambling in Colombia now has one of the highest rates of return to players (at least 83 per cent).

“In the 16 sites authorised to carry out bets on real sporting events, there are currently a total of 1,695,614 registered players (as of October 2018), with the month of June 2018 seeing the highest record , a total of 258,381 new players due to the FIFA World Cup . The average number of new monthly registrations stands at 110,795 users,” he said.

“Coljuegos first permitted online gaming in July 2017. From that month until December, when six operators entered the market, they generated a total of $ 5,362,160,039 in exploitation rights, which meant an average monthly entry of $893,693,340. In 2018 when 10 more sites began offering their services, the collection in the year stood at $28,380,442,516, generating an average monthly collection of $ 2,838,044,252,” said Pérez Hidalgo.

Pérez Hidalgo said that online gambling was becoming an increasingly popular pastime in Colombia.

“Colombia was the first country in the Americas to regulate these games, innovation in different platforms does not let up and it has consolidated itself as an important entertainment alternative for Colombians, and it is also making an important contribution to financing the health of Colombians.”

Key to the growth of the sector has been the government’s stance on illegal gaming. The government is gaining ground in its battle with illegal gambling with the signing of a number of new pacts so far between Coljuegos and regional governments.

“One of the great challenges we have is to continue to work to achieve the greatest legality in the sector. We have blocked, together with the Ministry of Information Technologies and the National Police’s Police Cybernetics Centre 1,805 websites that offered illegal gambling, and we continue to coordinate efforts with all State bodies to combat those who do not contribute to the health of Colombians,” he said.