Colombian soccer football league: Dimayor. The week before last one Jorge Enrique Velez, current president of the Dimayor (pictured) announced that would advance legal against the regulator of gambling industry, Coljuegos. This because the latter has already granted 15 sports betting licenses and does not pay royalties of any kind for the use of the names of the teams or official championships.
Vélez alleges that "You put on the show, but nothing comes in no profit for us" Colombia is not the only jurisdiction where the leagues seek to charge the betting operators.
With the legal betting climate of the United States finally heating up, leading professional sports leagues have been pushing hard at the state and federal levels for the imposition of "integrity fees" and the mandatory use of data provided by the league, even the NBA has already managed to get its share corresponding to 1% of the bets on its league.
Enrique Velez argues that it is not fair that there are 15 sports betting companies enriching themselves with sports events and that the clubs and the Dimayor, creators of these entertainment shows, receive nothing.
Currently sports clubs are going through a situation similar to the one lived in the gambling industry, where they are constantly fighting to survive the tax burdens that the government imposes.
It is not easy to maintain a sports club in Colombia with the tax burden you have. We are paying the same income as any commercial company, so the benefit of sport in Colombia is practically impossible.
"We are proposing in the tax reform that everything that is being paid in taxes goes to sports. The idea is that this is invested in infrastructure to make professional clubs strong and large companies. If that is achieved, we can make a social function that will leave a mark in the country "
With the law of the sport they took to the companies to become Corporations and that has them crazy with the tributary subject, so it is fundamental that that can be changed. The clubs are drowned economically, there is no way to invest in inferiors to promote future stars, much less there are important resources to bring great references. If we can consolidate solid companies and make football a stronger business than it is, everything will come in addition.
The president of the Dimayor wishes to leave as a legacy not only to be the president that makes people return to the stadiums, but also that "football becomes a round business, as it should be".
To make soccer a profitable business again, Vélez proposes several strategies:
- The first is to achieve public-private partnerships to receive stadium concessions (for 30, 40 or 50 years). Also looking to renew sports venues with restaurants, shops, shopping centers, turning the stadiums into a family epicenter.
- Second to document the fans with a Fan ID, with which they can redeem points for their purchases either at the ticket counter or at other establishments with which they can make alliances. In addition, it seeks to modify the transmission system of the FPC on television
Finally, Vélez says that "I know that the money of the bets taxes is for health and that is something important, but we also must contemplate that part of the slice reaches those that generate the whole show, as it happens in all the world. You must revise those agreements to make everyone compete and improve the income of the Dimayor. "
Even the Dimayor would have already tried to achieve this type of income, when in 2005 with Intralot launched its own sports betting site called "Ganagol", where the Dimayor received 4% of total sales.
Ganagol was scrapped after failing to meet its sales forecasts, although a similar service is still available through the Peruvian subsidiary of Intralot.
