Interactive
Colombia – Coljuegos grants fourth online gaming licence
By Phil - 7 November 2017
Gaming regulator Coljuegos has granted another company permission to operate online gaming in Colombia taking the total number of licences to four.
Local business Colbet S.A.S. will run online gaming via www.colbet.co and is the second licence to be granted in the same month.
With the new agreement with Colbet now in place there are now four sites that are authorised to offer online gaming in Colombia. These are wplay.co, betplay.com.co, colbet.co and zamba.co. In a statement, Head of Coljuegos Juan B. Pérez Hidalgo said, “With this initiative we are seeking greater resources for the health of Colombians, the expansion of the games portfolio through innovative tools and in tune with the global trend towards greater use of new technologies in the world.”
Meanwhile, Coljuegos with the help of the National Police will continue to manage the blocking of unauthorised web pages and promote the entry of more operators via legal measures, which will help increase resources for the health department, he said. According to Coljuegos, the licence with Colbet will be for the duration of five years and will be generate COP 10.9b (around US$3.7m) for the government. Colbet will run an online sportsbook powered by sports betting software provider Sirplay.
Colombia has made major progress of late when it comes to regulating online gaming and is now actively seeking to block unlicensed sites, which are offering their services to locals. Online gaming laws began to be tightened after legislation was passed in 2016. According to new regulations, operators granted a licence must adhere to a number of strict obligations and also meet the technical requirements as per the terms granted to it by the state.
In October, Coljuegos also granted GAMING1 permission to operate. It is the first international company to obtain a casino and sports betting license under Colombia’s new regulatory regime in a 50-50 joint venture with local operator Vicca Group. Zamba.co offers a wide range of online casino games as well as sports betting. Again the licence is for a duration of 5 years and the estimate of the contract over the period amounts to an estimated $10.9bn around US$3.7m.
As for the other two licences Coljuegos awarded the first online gaming license to Aquila Global Group in 2017. The Medellin-based company will operate in the Colombian market under the Wplay.co brand, with the goal of signing up 1 million customers in the next three years. Meanwhile local gaming company Corredor Empresarial S.A now runs betplay.com.co.
