Colombia’s gambling regulator says the sector has transferred COP4.01 trillion, about $1.07 billion, to the country’s subsidized healthcare system since Gustavo Petro became president in 2022.
Coljuegos said that figure accounts for 44.46% of the COP9.2 trillion sent to healthcare by the gambling sector since the regulator was created in 2012.
Coljuegos says 2026 could set a new record
Coljuegos President Marco Emilio Hincapié presented the figures during the 10th Ibero-American Gaming Summit in Bogotá, where regulators from several Latin American and European markets attended.
Hincapié said collections from January to May 2026 had already reached COP532.57 billion. He said the regulator expects this year’s total to pass its previous records if the current pace continues.
The regulator also used the summit to frame legal gambling as a funding tool for public services. In Colombia, gambling revenue supports the subsidized health regime, making sector collections a direct fiscal issue rather than only a gaming market metric.
Illegal gambling remains a drain on health funding
Coljuegos also pointed to enforcement against illegal gambling as part of the increase in health transfers. Hincapié said the regulator has seized more than 10,000 illegal gambling machines and destroyed almost 15,000 devices to stop them returning to criminal networks.
The regulator said it has also requested the blocking of almost 42,000 unauthorized online gambling portals. That remains a core issue for Colombia because illegal operators do not contribute to the healthcare funding system and operate outside local player protection rules.
Tax pressure still hangs over the market
The funding figures come while Colombia’s online gambling tax policy remains unsettled. Petro’s government has used emergency decrees to impose extra taxes on online gambling, first through a 19% VAT measure and later through a 16% consumption tax tied to flood recovery funding.
Those measures have faced legal and industry pushback. The Constitutional Court suspended earlier emergency tax provisions, while industry groups have warned that higher taxes can reduce regulated online gambling revenue and push activity toward unlicensed sites.
For Coljuegos, the headline remains the healthcare contribution. The next test is whether Colombia can keep those transfers rising while avoiding tax rules that weaken the licensed market.
