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Jaime Vives Pinedo has taken over as president of Colombia’s gaming regulator Coljuegos, putting a Santa Marta businessman at the head of one of Latin America’s most established regulated gambling markets as it faces persistent illegal-operator activity and the growing complexity of digital oversight.
Vives Pinedo succeeds Marco Emilio Hincapié and was formally appointed through Decree 1189 of 2026, according to Colombian media reports. Coljuegos administers and regulates games of chance nationwide, covering both land-based gambling and online operations, while overseeing the industry payments that help finance Colombia’s health system.
The appointment is significant because Colombia remains a reference point for online gaming regulation in Latin America. Its legal online market has operated since 2017, well before Brazil’s current federal regulated betting framework and before other large regional markets had established broad licensing models. Coljuegos issues concession contracts to authorized online operators and collects a 17% fee on gross gaming revenue, meaning its leadership has direct influence over market oversight, license conditions and the flow of gaming-derived public revenue.
A background check
Vives Pinedo arrives from Colombia’s Caribbean business community. He has been involved with Grupo Biocosta, the Santa Marta Chamber of Commerce and other regional business and leadership organizations in Magdalena. His move to Bogotá also makes him the latest business figure from the department to assume a strategic role in the national administration.
His central challenge will be maintaining the credibility of the licensed market while confronting unlicensed gambling and adjacent forms of unauthorized activity. That remit goes beyond blocking illegal websites. It includes monitoring digital payment channels, promotions, influencer-led draws and other products that can resemble regulated games of chance without operating under a Coljuegos authorization.
The challenges Coljuegos is facing
The regulator offered a clear indication of that wider enforcement perimeter this month when it fined influencer Yeferson Cossio 116 million Colombian Pesos —about USD 37,900— for operating an illegal gambling activity. While small relative to the online market, the action highlights Coljuegos’ willingness to pursue consumer-facing promotions and digital personalities, not only conventional betting and casino brands.
At the same time, Vives Pinedo will need to oversee a sector split between physical venues and online operators. Colombia’s official statistics recently reported 9.5% growth in arts, entertainment and recreation activity, with online betting among the factors supporting the category. That does not isolate gambling’s contribution, but it underlines the sector’s visibility within the wider consumer-entertainment economy.
For licensed operators and suppliers, the question is whether the new administration at Coljuegos will emphasize continuity or pursue a more interventionist approach to illegal-market enforcement, technological supervision and concession compliance. The appointment does not, by itself, signal a change in policy. But it puts a new decision-maker at the center of a market whose regulatory choices are closely watched across the region. Vives Pinedo’s immediate task is therefore both fiscal and institutional: protect health-sector funding, preserve the operating conditions of authorized businesses, and demonstrate that Colombia’s long-running online-gaming model can keep pace with a market increasingly shaped by digital products, payments and consumer acquisition.
