Supplier News
Colombia – Colombian lottery being outpaced by casinos and slots
By Phil - 7 August 2015
The Colombian Federation of Employers of Games of Chance (FECEAZAR) has presented the most recent figures for the first half of 2015.
The figures show that for the first time that sales for non-lottery games such as casinos and slot machines have outpaced sales for lotteries. In Colombia games are defined in two ways: Juegos Localizados which include bingos, slot parlours, casinos and sports betting and Apuestas Permanentes which include all lotteries.
Lotteries recorded a growth of 1.1 per cent, maintaining a trend of slight growth while Super Astro (a lottery game based around signs of the zodiac) and non-lottery based gaming recorded significant growth.
VAT during the first half of 2015 for lottery games stood at $138,953,393,363 pesos compared to $137,436,620,249 in the same period last year while lottery operators paid a total of $104,215,045,227 for exploitation rights during the first six months of this year.
Non-lottery games generated $111,377,678,717 in licensing fees, an increase compared to the first half of last year of 14.8 per cent. The exploitation rights for the Baloto lottery game for the first half of 2015 meanwhile decreased by 14.6 per cent compared to last year.
The exploitation rights of the Super Astro game for the first half of 2015 stood at $ 19,220,931,891, an increase of 16.9 per cent compared to last year.
The decrease in revenues from lotteries has been blamed squarely on the growth of illegal gaming which, according to President of FECEAZAR Baltazar Medina, has grown by as much as 40 per cent. Money raised per year by the illegal sector now reaches an estimated $1.2bn pesos a year which is the target the Colombian Gaming Control Board (Coljuegos) aims to raise for the Health Sector.
The lottery market in Colombia is extremely varied and there is a wide and extensive sales network throughout Colombia. However, the most popular lottery games in Colombia are Chance, Baloto and Super Astro. Combined all lottery games represent around 1.5 per cent of Colombia’s gross domestic product. Baloto began fourteen years ago while Chance started over 60 years ago and Super Astro began in 2000.
Today there are an estimated 3,200 slot parlours bingos and casinos in the country, with 83,558 slots nationwide run by 384 licensed operators. According to figures released by the Colombian Gaming Control Board the sector reported growth of around ten per cent in 2014 and taxes generated for the health sector increased by 25 per cent. According to the latest estimates they could generate as much as U$756m in 2015.
