Coljuegos Reports 99.3% Earnings Increase
Coljuegos, Colombia’s gaming regulator, has recently released its H1 2021 report, showing an impressive income of COP$19.48 trillion ($5.03 billion US) for the first half of the year. This constitutes a 99.3% year-on-year increase compared to the same time period in 2020, which brought in only COP$9.77 trillion.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions, Coljuegos’ latest report shows increased earnings in Colombia’s gaming industry, largely due to online casinos. ©Benoit Dare/Unsplash
Insights Amidst Pandemic Challenges
The report reveals much about the Colombian gambling industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Colombians suffered a particularly harsh lockdown, with casino venues closed from mid-March 2020 until September 2020. Even then, reopenings were tentative, with many new regulations in place to prevent spread of the virus.
This likely played a big part in 2020’s relatively low earnings, compared to the first half of 2021, which has seen venues reopen. Colombia has opened its borders to visitors. So far, 42.8% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 28.1% are fully vaccinated.
Due to COVID-19 challenges and restrictions, online gaming was one of the main areas of growth for the Colombian gambling industry during this period. It grew by a reported 148% in H1 2021. Over the course of the last year, Coljuegos has awarded licenses to several new gaming providers while existing ones have expanded their stakes in Colombia.
Despite easing restrictions, Colombia’s love affair with online gaming is unlikely to diminish. At least, that is what Coljuegos’ commercial VP Jhon Jairo Altamiranda is betting on. At Colombia’s recent Gaming & Technology (GAT) Expo, Altamiranda said that he hopes the second half of 2021 will follow this upward trend in iGaming, as it is one of the most promising verticals in today’ gaming industry.
Coljuegos’ newly appointed president, César Augusto Valencia Galiano also spoke to the challenges and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for the industry. He said that they have worked closely with operators to alleviate the hardship of the last year wherever possible.
Sports Betting on a Down Turn
One piece of information from the report that readers may find surprising is that sports betting has taken a turn for the worst during this period of time. On one hand, it makes sense that less people made bets since many live sporting events were cancelled.
However, sportsbooks like William Hill and Betfair have only recently expanded into Colombia. Sports betting has seen positive growth throughout Latin America on the whole, even with restrictions on sporting events. In this way, Colombia may just be an anomaly in the trend.
Galiano noted the decline, and chalked it up mostly to the cancellation of live events. He also explained that this decline has been made up for in part by the popularity of random number generator games, which form the backbone of many online casino games.
Coljuegos Raids Continue
Meanwhile, Coljuegos has been busy with another important part of its work: Cracking down on illegal gambling establishments. This month, the regulators raided seven different venues which operated without proper, legal licensing.
These raids happened simultaneously for optimum effectiveness, and resulted in Coljuegos seizing multitudes of gaming tech and machinery, which will be destroyed. So far, two people have been arrested in connection to the illegal operations, which took place between Manaure and Riohacha.
Coljuegos worked together with Columbia’s national police force. Aside from the seizure of property and arrests made, COP2.22 billion ($556,668 US) in fines have been handed out. Operators found guilty of not abiding existing laws can also be banned from the industry for five years, and imprisoned for between six and eight years, depending what courts decide.
These are not the first raids Coljuegos has put together. In 2020 alone, more than 800 illegal slot machines were taken by the operator, with the help of Colombia’s Attorney General, military and police, in a far-reaching operation. The hope is that Colombia’s gambling industry will soon be fully regulated, with only licensed establishments taking part.
