President of Coljuegos, César Augusto Valencia Galiano, made a balance of the behavior of the gambling market in Colombia during the first semester of this year.
"We have lived challenging times in which we have found, as a result of the sanitary emergency, aspects that are difficult to control and that have an impact on this industry. Even in the midst of this situation, we are working hand in hand with unions and operators in the economic reactivation," explained the official.
From the GAT Expo 2021 fair, which took place this week in the city of Cartagena, the president of Coljuegos explained that in the first semester of 2021 the gambling sector has registered total sales for 19.48 Billion pesos (USD 5.103.818.752), which represents a growth of 99 percent compared to the same period of 2020, when sales amounted to 9.77 billion pesos (USD 2.559.769.344).
"In terms of exploitation rights collected, between January and June, this value has amounted to 332,886 million pesos (USD86.460.900), which means an increase of 83 percent compared to the previous year. Of this total, 108,053 million pesos correspond to localized games and 87,354 million pesos (USD23.056.266) to online games", highlighted Valencia Galiano.
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One of the sectors that has registered a greater growth in the gambling industry are the Internet betting, product -among other things- of the greater virtuality that characterizes the consumer these days.
Last year, these games reported sales of 8.3 billion pesos (USD USD 2.129.769.344), that is, they achieved a 73 percent growth compared to 2019. However, as of June this year the figures are even more significant, because sales have been reported for 6.99 billion pesos (USD 1.834.021.120), that is, we have achieved 148 percent more than the bets generated in the first half of last year.
"We expect that in the second semester this modality will continue with the same pace of sales, positioning itself in the market as one of the great strengths of our sector", explained Jhon Jairo Altamiranda, Commercial vice-president of Coljuegos, who gave one of the conferences at the fair.
In this sense, the president of Coljuegos reminded that the situation generated by the sanitary emergency in the gambling sector boosted the deconcentration of bets in the online games.
"As an effect of the cancellation of sport events at national and international level, a considerable increase in the participation of GNA games bets was generated those games in which a random number generator is involved, such as casino games: slot machines, roulette, BlackJack, among others. For this reason, players loyal to internet games had no other option but to migrate to the GNA modality, which increased its market share", he explained.
