Is Online Gambling Legal in Colombia?
Yes, at operators authorised by Coljuegos. Games of chance in Colombia are a state revenue monopoly, a monopolio rentístico, and Coljuegos is the industrial and commercial state company that administers it, granting the concession contracts under which private operators run casinos, betting and bingo. Online gambling has been part of the regime since 2017, and in September 2025 Coljuegos stated that 14 operators held authorisation to offer games of chance online, with further operators authorised since.
Operating games of chance without that authorisation is a crime under Article 312 of the Penal Code, and Coljuegos treats any platform outside its list as illegal.
How Colombia Taxes Casino Prizes
Gambling prizes in Colombia are a ganancia ocasional, an occasional gain under the Estatuto Tributario, taxed at 20%. The operator withholds that 20% at source when a single prize is above 48 UVT. With the UVT at COP 52,374 for 2026, the threshold is COP 2,513,952. Below it, the operator pays the prize in full, but the winnings are still taxable and belong in your annual income tax return.
Colombia taxes prizes at a flat rate that applies whether you win at a casino, on a lottery or on a bet, and how other countries tax gambling winnings compares Colombia’s flat 20% with the rules elsewhere.
Taxes on Online Gambling in Colombia: The 19% VAT and the 16% Consumption Tax
Online gambling went through a turbulent year for tax. Decree 1474 of December 2025, issued under an economic emergency, put 19% VAT on online games of chance, calculated on operators’ gross gaming revenue. In January 2026 the Constitutional Court provisionally suspended it, and on 9 April 2026 the Court declared the decree unconstitutional.
A second tax arrived in between. Decree 0240 of 12 March 2026, issued under a separate economic emergency declared for flooding in several departments, created a 16% national consumption tax on games of chance operated exclusively online. It is triggered by players’ deposits and calculated on gross gaming revenue, meaning total bets minus prizes paid in each two-month period. In June 2026 the Constitutional Court upheld that flood emergency, while narrowing its scope, and the online gambling tax was reported as in force.
The government also wants a permanent version. In a tax reform bill filed in Congress on 20 July 2026, it proposed making VAT on online gambling permanent. Earlier reforms that covered gambling were not approved by Congress, and this one also needs Congress’s approval to take effect. Because these taxes are calculated on operators’ gross gaming revenue, their main effect on you is indirect, through the size of bonuses and the fees on deposits.
Casino Payment Methods in Colombia: PSE, Nequi and Daviplata
Coljuegos-licensed operators are built around local payments. Deposits by PSE, the widely used online bank transfer system, are credited straight away, and operators with a Coljuegos licence have added the Nequi and Daviplata wallets. Because every transaction runs through a regulated bank or wallet, payments can be traced, which is part of how the regulated market meets anti-money laundering standards. Balances at licensed operators are held in pesos, so there is no currency conversion on the way in or out. International casinos set their own payment options and currencies, and whether a given casino takes PSE, Nequi or Daviplata is listed with the other casino payment methods, so you can match a casino to the wallet on your phone.
Coljuegos and International Casinos: Blocking and What a Licence Changes
Coljuegos pursues illegal operators hard. By September 2025 it had requested the blocking of more than 28,100 illegal web pages, and it goes after promotion as well as operation: it has asked the police cyber centre and Meta to block hundreds of social media profiles that advertised unauthorised betting, opened sanctioning proceedings against influencers and companies running illegal promotions, and in August 2026 asked the police to block the networks of well-known influencers. A blocked site can take an account and its balance with it.
At a Coljuegos licensed casino, your deposits sit with an operator that answers to a Colombian regulator, under Colombian law, with prizes paid in pesos. An international casino answers to the authority named on its card, which is where a disputed withdrawal goes, and its site can be among those Coljuegos asks to block. The practical difference between a local and an offshore licence shows up most clearly on the day a withdrawal is disputed, and our page of casinos by licence lists the regulators behind each card.
Self-Exclusion and Responsible Gambling in Colombia
Coljuegos runs its responsible gambling programme under the name Toma el Control, at tomaelcontrol.coljuegos.gov.co, with a free national helpline on 01 8000 18 28 88. Licensed operators must not accept players under 18, and at any casino the quickest tools are on your casino account itself: a deposit cap, a cooling-off break or a full self-exclusion. Some countries run one register across every licensed site, and countries with a single self-exclusion register make a useful comparison with Colombia’s programme.
What Sets the Best Online Casino in Colombia Apart
Start with the licence on the card, Coljuegos or international, since it decides the payment methods, the tax handling and where a complaint goes. Then the comparison comes down to the product: how quickly each casino pays out, how much wagering its welcome bonus carries and whether that bonus counts on the games you want to play. Colombia’s neighbour to the south licenses online casinos through MINCETUR, and our page on online casinos in Peru shows how the rules compare.
