The president of Coljuegos, César Augusto Valencia Galiano, released the report of the gambling sector for the month of May and highlighted the good moment the industry is going through, highlighting that in May 2022 record figures were registered in collections, sales and transfers.
In turn, the sector's collection during the first five months of the year (January-May) reached 298 Thousands s of million of pesos (USD73.5m), which represents an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous year.
The month of May 2022 alone, reached a collection of 62 Thousands s of millions of pesos (USD15.3m), which means an increase of 30 percent compared to the same period of 2021, when 48.1 Thousands s of millions of pesos (USD11.9m) were collected.
Of the total collection reported for the first five months of 2022, it stands out that localized games (casinos and bingos) continue to make the largest contribution, reaching 124 thousands of millions of pesos (USD30.6m), online games remain in a second place with a collection of 95 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD23.4m). Likewise, Baloto Revancha contributed 30 thousands of millions of pesos (USD7.4m), SUPER astro, 49 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD12.1m) and promotional games reached 1,871 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD462 thousands).
In the case of sales, Coljuegos reports that from January to May 2022, the figures continue to increase. Gross sales of domestic games reached 25 thousands of millions of pesos (USD6.18m), which means a 59 percent growth in relation to the same period of 2021, when sales of 15.7 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD3.87m) were reported. Localized games report for the same period, sales close to 15 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD3.70m) and online games 9.6 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD2.37m). SUPER astro recorded sales of 252 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD 62.2m) and Baloto Revancha of 84 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD 20.74m).
In the case of territorial games (lotteries, chance and Raspa y Listo), the figures represent the excellent moment of these modalities in the regions. Sales from January to May 2022 reach 1.3 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD 320 thousands), which represents an increase of 26.47 percent additional to that reported in the same period of 2021.
In the month of May 2022, territorial gambling sales achieved 274.704 Thousands of millions of pesos (USD67.8 m), a growth of 28.64 percent, when compared to the same month of 2021.
Of that grand total, lotteries contributed 58,685 million pesos (USD14.49m), chance 179,381 million pesos (USD44.29m) and Raspa y Listo 36,637 million pesos (USD9.04 m).
It is worth mentioning that the incentive with immediate prize collection called Raspa y Listo, continues to position itself in regional markets as one of the most requested and high impact gambling modalities, due to the established prize plans and the immediacy of its payments, exceeding sales projections by 168 percent. Territorial games for the month of May transferred 44,791 million pesos (USD11.05m) to the health of Colombian regions.
"Gambling industry is consolidated as a fundamental reference in the strengthening of the national economy. The figures we are delivering are synonymous of the entrepreneurship, innovation and good practices that the sector has assumed to consolidate itself day after day. The businessmen, operators, guilds and each one of the actors that make up the industry are committed to make the gambling sector a referent of progress and social welfare for the Colombians. I invite the citizens to join us in this purpose by playing in a safe and responsible way in legal establishments authorized by the entity, so together we will be contributing to the health system of the Colombian regions", indicated the president of Coljuegos, Cesar Valencia Galiano.
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The Board of Directors of Caixa Econômica Federal postpones the decision on the transfer of lottery service operations to its subsidiary.
The reason was the pressure exerted by employees. Employees fear that this measure will be the first step towards privatization. The sale of a subsidiary requires approval from the National Congress, but employees believe it is easier to approve the sale of part of the company than the complete privatization of Caixa.
Fabiana Uehara, director of the Brasília Bank Workers Union, elected to represent employees on the Board of Directors, expressed concern about the situation:
“I think the government is not aware of what is happening. This agenda must be withdrawn”, claiming that the government may not be aware of the consequences. After an intense discussion, they postponed the decision.
Political influence
The influence of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, was also addressed. According to ICL Notícias, Lira managed to influence the replacement of the person responsible for the electronic sports betting area at Caixa.
According to journalist Letícia Casado, from UOL, since 2023, Lira has exerted strong pressure on Haddad on issues related to the online betting sector.
To avoid friction with the federal government, the minister would have given in to pressure from Lira and replaced the person responsible for the aforementioned area.
A couple of weeks ago, the club's top leader, César Guzmán, made public several complaints about illegal bets that were affecting the team's performance and although he made it clear that the authorities were already in the process of investigating the facts, he recently confirmed that These are not progressing as expected.
In statements with Zona Libre de Humo, Guzmán affirmed that members of the team are still being “stalked” by criminals who seek to make a good economic profit through betting and that although they have managed to take disciplinary actions with those who are involved in these acts , the entire FPC scenario is being affected by this panorama.
“Colombia, betting increased its level of influence in sports and match fixing.”
“Without a doubt, betting has had an influence on the FPC. The team has been permeated by criminal gangs on the subject of betting, approaching the players. At the internal level, the due determinations were made in the disciplinary part with the people involved in this betting issue,” Guzmán assured.
And then what does Dimayor do?
Dimayor President Fernando Jaramillo
"This investigation is being carried out, it is not easy from the evidentiary point of view, it is not easy with the elements that as a disciplinary commission we have to have an investigation of these characteristics, but we have relied on the Prosecutor's Office, the Police, the judicial police and also Interpol because it is a transnational crime.”
“The Dimayor has no interference in the world of betting, because our obligation and commitment consist solely of the development of the FPC's competencies,” stated its president.
The company that manages the income monopoly of games of luck and chance issued a resolution through which it seeks that small merchants who have electronic slot machines (MET) operating without the respective authorization of Coljuegos can legalize their operation.
According to the president of the entity, Marco Emilio Hincapié, this strategy aims to promote legal betting and the formalization of nearly 100,000 slot machines that operate in Colombian territory without complying with the requirements of the law.
“In addition to the operations to seize machines and destroy them later, we are telling people that, in accordance with the 'Total Peace' program of our president Gustavo Petro, we formalize the electronic slot machines that, for the moment, may be operating without authorization,” said Hincapié.
On the other hand, it is important to mention that METS owners who continue operating without authorization could incur fines that amount to 80 monthly legal minimum wages (about $104 million) for each of the machines. Furthermore, this activity constitutes a crime contemplated in article 312 of the Penal Code, which refers to the illicit exercise of monopolistic activity for profit.
Although the legal situation for online bookmakers and casinos in Peru and Chile has been similar for many years, the Peruvian government worked diligently to achieve the passage of online gambling legislation. Meanwhile, the Chilean government continues to evaluate this aspect in collaboration with various commissions, such as Finance, Sports and Economy.
Legislation in Chile continues to advance, and is expected to come to fruition in the coming months. At the moment, the sector is going through a difficult time, both for betting houses and users. Through a Court ruling, online sports betting houses in Chile were declared illegal, resulting in the blocking of multiple sites and the cancellation of sponsorship contracts.
From this past March 1st, Coljuegos will activate a new technological tool that will allow real-time control of health sales and transfers carried out by game operators located in the bingo mode.
According to the president of Coljuegos, Marco Emilio Hincapié, this new system is part of the technological modernization strategies implemented by the entity, by which means it is intended to have greater surveillance of the resources coming from the games of luck and chance, as well as of the transfers that are carried out for the health of Colombians.
“With this new technological tool, the 90 bingo operators in the national territory will be able to report in real time on the entire operation of their games. This way, we can always know the real value of sales and the corresponding percentage of transfers to health”, says Hincapié.
Accordingly, the president of the entity highlighted that this new system will represent a tax benefit for bingo operators, whenever transfers will now be carried out based on real sales.
“Of the total collected, each operator must transfer 12% of gross income to health. This represents a tax benefit, since, until closing, the transfers were calculated on the total number of available funds, but not on sales”, added the president.
Ineffectiveness and politicization of Coljuegos is leading to bankruptcy of casino operators in Colombia.
It is worth noting that, during 2023, local games, including bingo, transferred around $343,330 million to the health of Colombians, and generated around $215,063 million per VAT concept.