Colombia wants 20 online sites taking World Cup wagers

Colombia’s gambling regulator hopes to quadruple its number of online licensees by next summer’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Last month, Colombia officially welcomed Spanish gaming operator Codere as its fifth regulated market online gambling licensee. This week, Juan B. Pérez Hidalgo, president of Colombian gaming regulator Coljuegos, told local media outlet Portafolio that he hopes to have 20 licensed online operators taking wagers on next summer’s FIFA action.

Pérez Hidalgo claimed the country’s five online licensees had so far registered a combined total of nearly 50k customers. Direct contributions from online gambling taxes and fees should allow Coljuegos to transfer between COP4b-4.5b (US $1.33m-1.5m) to the nation’s health care system in 2017, a figure Pérez Hidalgo expects to grow significantly next year.

Counting proceeds from all forms of gambling, Coljuegos’ transfers to the medical system from the start of the year through to the end of October totaled COP 465.4b ($154.6m), up 19% from the same period last year.