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Colombia’s territorial games — lotteries, chance and the scratchcard product Raspa&Listo — transferred COP $2.56 trillion to the subsidised health regime between 2022 and 2026, according to figures presented by regulator Coljuegos.
Coljuegos president Marco Emilio Hincapié told the General Assembly of the Federation of Colombian Lotteries (Fedelco) that the Petro administration had delivered on both health financing and on the games of chance sector.
He said territorial games had received “a boost never before seen” under the current government, translating into additional resources for lower-income Colombians.
Breaking down the figures, Coljuegos reported that the 15 departmental lotteries contributed more than COP $1.05 trillion to the health system across the four-year period, while apuestas permanentes (chance) Colombia’s flagship legal numbers-lottery betting game accounted for COP $1.33 trillion.
The regulator presented the numbers as evidence of sustained sectoral growth and of the effect of measures taken to secure its long-term sustainability.
Sales figures pointed in the same direction. Lottery ticket sales reached COP $2.9 trillion over the presidential four year term, while chance sales exceeded COP $10.6 trillion — a shift Coljuegos attributed to increased public confidence in the legal offering.
On enforcement, Hincapié said the regulator had signed more than 40 pactos por la legalidad (agreements for legality) with chance concessionaires and departmental lotteries, describing them as a mechanism for pushing back on unauthorised operators.
He said the framework had allowed Coljuegos to strengthen the legal industry across all 32 departments.
Hincapié also pointed to the work of the National Council for Games of Chance (CNJSA) during the four-year period, which he said had updated sectoral regulation, tightened control and transparency mechanisms, promoted responsible gambling, issued new technical standards for draws, and accompanied departmental lotteries through capitalisation and institutional modernisation processes.
Looking ahead, the Coljuegos president outlined a pipeline of regulatory projects the entity has already structured. These include modernising the lottery regime, incorporating certified Random Number Generation technology, enabling digital transmission of draws, and creating an exceptional mechanism to protect the financial stability of departmental lotteries facing liquidity risks.
Hincapié closed by arguing that the figures showed what could be achieved when the national government and the country’s lotteries worked in a coordinated way, describing the sector as strategic both for employment and regional development and for the financing of health services for millions of Colombians.
