This earlier month was held the first financial meeting of the gambling industry by Coljuegos, where the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, José Manuel Restrepo Abondano, the delegated superintendent for Risk of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, César Octavio Reyes, the director of UIAF, Javier Gutiérrez, and the compliance officers of BBVA bank, fiduciaria La Previsora, AV Villas, Datacrédito Experian, Fecoljuegos, Grupo Rédito, Fecoljuegos and AV Villas were present; the director of the UIAF, Javier Gutiérrez and the compliance officers of BBVA bank, fiduciaria La Previsora, AV Villas, Datacrédito Experian, Fecoljuegos, Grupo Réditos, Corredor Empresarial, Cornazar and Codere Colombia.
The objective of the meeting was to broaden the vision of the sector in the banking world, seeking to break with paradigms, specifically the role of the financial sector in the economic reactivation of gambling.
José Manuel Restrepo assured that among the government's plans is to promote the economic growth including that of the gambling industry. "With the resilience efforts made by operators, guilds and regulator, I have no doubt that the sector will contribute in a determinant way in this purpose that we all have to overcome the difficulties generated by the sanitary emergency" assured the Minister.
In the first four months of 2021, the gambling industry in general has registered total sales of 5.17 billion pesos (1 332 717 000 USD), which means a growth of 54% compared to the same period of 2020 when sales amounted to 2.37 billion pesos (533 086 800 USD), according to Coljuegos.
In fact, this year the collection from exploitation rights between January and April amounted to 209,763 million pesos (74 568 981 USD), which means an increase of 21 percent.
However, those who have lived the reality of the localized sector day by day call for greater efficiency in economic reactivation
"To achieve a total reactivation and if we want greater resources for the health of Colombians, we need greater administrative efficiency on the part of the regulator and not more operational burdens to be imposed on concessionaires.
We require a competitive sector, and we achieve this by strengthening actions to fight hard against illegality, a scourge that impacts those who do contribute to the state's coffers and provide guarantees to the players.
Coljuegos must have a greater structure in the area of control of illegality to solve the lags that exist and improve the functionality in this aspect, therefore we want to invite the entity to know and interpret the industry with a broader vision, where the diversity and commercial development of each type of game is understood, which will also allow agility in decision making for the implementation of new market offerings”. The president of Fecoljuegos, Evert Montero Cárdenas, said.
The behavior of the second semester of 2021 for localized games will depend on external factors such as consumer confidence or the progress of the National Vaccination Plan, therefore, it is necessary for Coljuegos to adopt measures that adjust to the reality of the sector since those taken so far do not meet the needs and expectations of the operation.
The collection shows the economic impact of the operation, with the reduction of resources from exploitation rights, which in the first quarter of 2021 was 54,841 million pesos (14 659 887 USD), 45% less than the same period of the previous year.
