Colombia’s EGaming Act Legalises All Forms of Online Gambling

The Government of Colombia have made an important step towards creating a legalised online gaming market having developed a legal framework designed to regulate all forms of online gambling.

The new EGaming Act has just been approved and it is meant to create a clear set of rules that gaming operators need to follow if they want to offer their services to Colombian gamers.

The long wait was well worth is as the new legislation covers online casinos, online poker, online sportsbooks, eSports, fantasy sports, promotional games and few other verticals.

A 15% levy on gross gaming revenue (GGR) will be enforced where the return to player is equal or higher than 83%, but that is just for starters.

On top of that, all gaming companies are required to pay a fixed amount to acquire and maintain corresponding license, which is equal to 811 monthly legal minimum wages, which translates to approximately $200,000, each year.

The good news when the operators are concerned is that single gaming license can cover numerous verticals such as casino, poker or sportsbook, which should make their life easier in the coming years.

DFS Operators Not Subject to License Fees

The EGaming Act favours operators who organise skill games since they are not required to pay the levy or costs of a fixed gaming license. This means that daily fantasy sports operators have a chance to dominate the Colombian market, as there is a growing demand for these types of contests among the younger generation.

Colombia have also legalised promotional games that see various companies promote its goods or services by offering their customers prizes for purchasing their products.

This basically means that any company is allowed to organise lottery, scratchcards, poker or sportsbook games, which could cause a great deal of controversy.

And while you may think that a plethora of Colombian residents will soon be gambling online, things are not as straightforward as they seem.

Namely, the citizens of the South American country do not trust either the banks or online payment methods and only one in every five people owns a credit card.

Therefore, leading operators will have to find a way to allow Colombians to easily fund their gaming accounts or else the new legal framework will fail to deliver expected results.