Supplier News
Colombia – Coljuegos defends anti-money laundering measures
By Phil - 18 March 2016
The Colombian Gaming Control Board (Coljuegos) has come out strongly in defence of its record when it comes to combating organised crime and money laundering after a report criticising its efforts was published by US Department of State.
In a statement Coljuegos argued that it had “actively” taken part in “the prevention and control,” of money laundering and underlined in detail its efforts to address the issue saying that it had made significant inroads into tackling the problem over the last four years.
According to Coljuegos, a number of anti money laundering prevention measures have been put in place along with the coordinated efforts of a number of other bodies including the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF). This combined with a raft of other anti money laundering measures had served to further to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Colombia.
The 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) is an annual report by the American Congress. It describes the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade. The report focused on regionally-run lotteries, called Chance in Colombia which it described as “easily exploitable due to weaknesses in the reporting system of these games to central government regulators.” The report went onto say that: “Coljuegos is continuing its studies to better understand the incidents of suspicious transactions in “Chance” games, but it is a small organisation with limited personnel and resources.”
However, Coljuegos responded by saying that: “Under the powers assigned to each regulator the issue of prevention and control of money laundering and terrorist financing is addressed. In April 2013, Coljuegos issued the first rule that requires its licensees to implement a system of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Prevention developed with the advice and recommendations of the UIAF. This system sets stricter standards for the dealing of risks for companies authorised by the entity to operate gambling games.”
The Chance Game, also known locally as “Apuestas Permanentes,” is a daily numbers game and it allows the player to choose a figure made up of no more than 4 numbers. Chance first began in the late 1970’s in the region of Antioquia and quickly spread nationwide although it was illegal. It was finally legalised in 1982. According to a recent study carried out by Coljuegos, Chance has the highest brand recognition in Colombia and 83 per cent of those interviewed had played the game recently while 63 per cent said it was their favourite lottery game.
