The tax reform, added to economic conditions such as inflation and the accelerated rise of the dollar, brings strong adverse effects to the gambling industry. With the recent approval of the reform that 'establishes that the withholding rate for occasional earnings from lotteries, raffles, bets and the like, will be 25% when it is greater than 48 UVT', a rate that was previously established at 20%, there is a risk of a disincentive for the player, seeing the prizes diminished due to this withholding. All of this will very possibly cause it to migrate to illegal platforms or establishments, where no type of tax is applied to them.
The devaluation of the Colombian peso makes it difficult for businessmen to pay financial obligations, since most of the debts acquired are in dollars. In general, this industry is very sensitive to tax changes or economic variations.
In addition, the operators have had problems with the acquisition of game elements and other components for the operation of the activity, due to the difficulties in importing and the lack of availability of these.
Another important factor to take into account has been the arrival of the new National Government, who we hope will know and understand the operation of the activity. The change of officials of the regulatory body, Coljuegos, has meant that some processes take more time, because in this transition normally the learning curve and knowledge of the operation of the activity is lost.
