Online gambling in Colombia: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Colombia?

Online games are "juegos novedosos" under Law 643/2001 and are operated by private companies under concession contracts with Coljuegos, the state monopoly administrator. A contract runs up to five years and requires a Colombian legal entity, guarantees for prize payments, certified platforms and a return to player of at least 83%. Operators pay exploitation rights of 15% of GGR plus a fixed annual fee of 811 monthly minimum wages. A 19% VAT imposed by emergency decrees in 2025 and December 2025 was struck down by the Constitutional Court in April 2026, leaving the sector's fiscal treatment a live political issue.

Regulated: Private operators can hold a local licence for online casino and/or betting.

Who regulates gambling in Colombia?

• Coljuegos — Empresa Industrial y Comercial del Estado Administradora del Monopolio Rentístico de los Juegos de Suerte y Azar (Coljuegos) — Administers the national gambling monopoly: awards and supervises online, casino and slot concessions, collects exploitation rights and pursues illegal operators

Colombia gambling licence: how it works

A private company signs a concession contract with Coljuegos for games operated over the internet (RNG casino games, live casino, sports betting, bingo, poker). The applicant must be a Colombian legal entity that meets the legal, financial and technical requirements of Resolution 20161200025334 of 2016 (as amended in 2020) and the online game rules consolidated in Acuerdo 08 of 2020, most recently modified by Acuerdo 01 of May 2026. It must post a fiduciary trust or bank guarantee covering prize payments and player-fund refunds, hold player funds in a dedicated Colombian bank account, certify its platform and games, and integrate with Coljuegos reporting. Contracts run from three to five years and are renewable through a new contract. Coljuegos listed about 18 online concession holders in 2026, including BetPlay, Wplay, Betsson, Rushbet, Codere, Luckia, Stake (Betfair), Betano and, from April 2026, MrYoker.

What an applicant needs

• Colombian legal entity (typically an S.A.S.) with paid-in capital proportionate to the estimated contract value
• Fiduciary trust or bank guarantee covering prize payments and player-fund refunds
• Dedicated Colombian bank account for player funds and audited financial statements
• Platform, RNG and game certification by an approved laboratory and connection to Coljuegos monitoring
• Return to player of at least 83% and an approved game catalog per contract
• Registered players must be adults with a Colombian domicile; SARLAFT anti-money-laundering program with UIAF reporting
• Responsible-gaming program and advertising that identifies the concession contract

Gambling taxes in Colombia

• Operators: Exploitation rights of 15% of gross gaming revenue (gross income minus prizes paid) for games with RTP of at least 83%, or 17% of gross income otherwise, plus the fixed 811 SMMLV annual fee and 1% administration expenses (Law 643/2001 art. 38 as amended by Law 1753/2015); ordinary corporate income tax applies on top.
• Players: Prizes from games of chance are taxed as occasional gains at 20%, withheld by the operator on prizes above 48 UVT.
• Also: Decree 0175 of February 2025 (internal-commotion emergency) charged 19% VAT on online gambling deposits from 22 February to 31 December 2025, raising about COP 1.35 trillion. Decree 1474 of 29 December 2025 re-imposed 19% VAT on GGR under an economic emergency, but the Constitutional Court suspended it in January 2026 and declared it unconstitutional in April 2026 (Sentencia C-079/26), ordering refunds of amounts paid. No VAT applied to online gambling as of September 2026.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Advertising is permitted for concession holders and must carry the contract number, the 18+ notice and responsible-gaming messaging; sports sponsorship is widespread (BetPlay is the league title sponsor). Unauthorized operators may not advertise, and a 2025 bill (PL 176/2025) would oblige banks, wallets and payment gateways to refuse services to unlicensed platforms and ban their advertising.

Responsible gaming

Coljuegos requires self-exclusion tools, deposit limits, session information and prevention messaging under its Juego Responsable program; minors and non-residents may not register, and operators must refuse play by persons on exclusion lists.

Identity and age verification

Registration with national ID, verification of age (18+) and Colombian domicile, one account per player, source-of-funds monitoring under SARLAFT and suspicious-transaction reports to the UIAF.

Payments

Deposits and withdrawals through payment methods offered by entities supervised by the Financial Superintendence: debit and credit cards, PSE bank transfers, Nequi and Daviplata wallets, and cash top-ups at Efecty, Baloto and similar networks. Player funds sit in a dedicated Colombian account; crypto is not an authorized payment method.

Notable restrictions

• Only Coljuegos concession holders may offer online games; departmental lotteries and chance remain territorial monopolies
• Players must be adults domiciled in Colombia
• Return to player of at least 83% per game category
• Prize payments guaranteed by trust or bank guarantee
• Poker is a game of chance under Law 643 and unauthorized tournaments are prosecuted

Colombia iGaming market: size, players and payments

Coljuegos reported that online concession holders paid about COP 362 billion in exploitation rights (15% of GGR) to the health system in 2025 and about COP 1.35 trillion in emergency VAT; the regulator's total collections from January to October 2025 were COP 868 billion across all games (Coljuegos, December 2025 and January 2026).

Coljuegos counted 14 authorized online operators during 2025; no official participation survey is published, and industry estimates put adult online penetration in the low teens of percent.

Mobile dominates play and payments; wallet apps such as Nequi are the most used deposit rails in industry surveys.

Around 18 concession holders in 2026 led by BetPlay and Wplay, with Betsson, Rushbet, Codere, Luckia, Stake, Betano and others competing; Coljuegos and MinTIC block unlicensed domains and Coljuegos ran hundreds of enforcement operations in 2025.

Timeline: how Colombia got here

1. 2001Law 643 establishes the gambling monopoly regime and its funding of the health system
2. 2011-11Decree-Law 4142 creates Coljuegos to administer national-level games
3. 2015-06Law 1753 (art. 93) defines internet games and sets the 15%/17% exploitation rights and the 811 SMMLV fee
4. 2016-10Coljuegos issues Acuerdo 04 and the requirements resolution; the online concession regime opens
5. 2017-06First online concession contract goes live (Wplay)
6. 2020-09Acuerdo 08 consolidates the rules for internet-operated games
7. 2025-02Decree 0175 imposes 19% VAT on online gambling deposits until 31 December 2025
8. 2025-12Decree 1474 re-imposes 19% VAT on GGR under an economic emergency
9. 2026-04Constitutional Court strikes down Decree 1474 (C-079/26) and orders refunds; no VAT applies
10. 2026-05Acuerdo 01 of 2026 updates the internet-games rules in Acuerdo 08

Outlook

The fiscal question is unresolved: the government tried twice in 2025 to add 19% VAT by emergency decree, both measures fell, and a permanent VAT or higher exploitation rights are likely to return in the next tax reform debated under the administration that took office in August 2026. Coljuegos continues to add concession holders and to modernize its rules (Acuerdo 01/2026), and Congress is considering payment-blocking obligations for banks and wallets against unlicensed platforms. Expect continued growth of the licensed market and tighter enforcement rather than structural change.

Launching in Colombia with GameBridge

Turnkey (your licence, our platform). Coljuegos contracts are signed with a Colombian legal entity that the operator controls, so the operator is the concession holder and runs its brand on GameBridge; GameBridge holds no Colombian concession and international licences do not cover Colombian residents.

A Colombian brand on GameBridge runs in Spanish (Latin America) with a COP wallet, geo-controls that admit only adults domiciled in Colombia, and identity checks at registration. PSE, wallet and card rails are connected on request through the operator's Colombian payment providers, player balances reconcile to the dedicated player-funds account, and game configurations enforce the 83% minimum return to player. Responsible-gaming limits and self-exclusion follow Coljuegos rules, reporting feeds match the regulator's formats, and GameBridge Studios and Originals releases ship with the certification package Coljuegos's approved laboratories require.

• Spanish (Latin America) site language and COP wallet
• Geo and domicile gates limited to adults resident in Colombia
• PSE, Nequi, Daviplata and card connections on request through the operator's providers
• RTP configuration and reporting aligned to the 83% minimum
• Self-exclusion, deposit limits and SARLAFT monitoring hooks
• Certification packages for GameBridge Studios and Originals releases

Football betting, slots and crash games lead Colombian lobbies; the aggregated catalog carries the studios already approved for Coljuegos concession holders, and GameBridge Studios builds football- or festival-themed exclusives to a concession holder's brief with certification-ready documentation.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Cómo ser operador de juegos novedosos operados por internet — Coljuegos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Juegos operados por internet autorizados — Coljuegos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Juegos operados por internet aportaron $1.3 billones para la paz en el Catatumbo — Coljuegos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Comunicado 15 — Sentencia C-079/26 (Decreto Legislativo 1474 de 2025) — Corte Constitucional de Colombia (via PwC repository), accessed 2026-09-11
• Corte Constitucional declara inexequible el Decreto 1474 — Pérez-Llorca, accessed 2026-09-11
• Colombia: La Corte Constitucional ordena devolver el IVA cobrado a las apuestas online — Yogonet, accessed 2026-09-11
• Marco Emilio Hincapié: el aporte total de la industria del juego en Colombia superó los USD 523 millones en 2025 — Yogonet, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.