Colombia's economic rescue bill would put 19% VAT on online gambling deposits and raise the tax on betting winnings to 30%

What the bill says about online gambling

Article 41 of the bill rewrites letter e) of Article 420 of Colombia's Tax Statute so that VAT applies to "the circulation, sale or operation of games of chance, with the exception of lotteries", at the general rate set in the statute, currently 19%.

For games operated exclusively online, the taxable event is the deposit: a cash payment or a transfer of money or crypto assets made by each player to the operator to be credited to the player's account and obtain the right to bet. The bill sets the taxable base as the value of the deposit divided by 1.19, which works out to roughly 16% of the gross deposit.

The operator is responsible for the tax "even if it operates from abroad", and the tax applies where the user has tax residence, domicile or a permanent establishment in Colombia. The bill's explanatory statement says games whose results depend on physical draws or events, such as chance and lotteries, are not treated as online games even when they are sold over the internet.

The statement says the VAT would be added to the exploitation fees operators already pay under the state's gambling monopoly, which fund the health sector, without replacing them. It notes that online gambling has been taxed temporarily twice before: through VAT under Decree 175 of 2025, adopted during the Catatumbo emergency, and through the national consumption tax under Decree 240 of 2026. The Ministry says exploitation fees from the online segment were up more than 100% in nominal terms through September 2026 compared with the same period of 2025.

Casinos, slot machines and bingo

For land-based games, the bill sets fixed monthly taxable bases in tax value units (UVT): 40 UVT per slot machine, 580 UVT per gaming table, 20 UVT per slot machine in premises whose main business may be something other than gambling, 6 UVT per bingo seat, and 20 UVT for other localized games.

Winnings tax and website blocking

Article 52 would raise the occasional gains tax on winnings from lotteries, raffles, bets and similar from 20% to 30%. The Ministry, citing DIAN estimates, puts the extra revenue at COP 198 billion in 2028.

Article 93 amends the DIAN closure sanction in Article 657 of the Tax Statute. Where an online gambling operator, in Colombia or abroad, fails to adopt or comply with technical control systems, DIAN would order access to its websites blocked from Colombia instead of closing a physical establishment, and internet service providers would have to enforce the block.

Revenue estimate

The Ministry of Finance estimates that VAT on online games of chance would bring in COP 2.0 trillion in 2027 and an average of COP 2.3 trillion a year after that. The bill must pass Congress and can still be amended.

Colombia's gambling revenue already funds the health system through monopoly transfers; lottery and chance transfers to health reached COP 462.8 billion through September. Rush Street Interactive's guidance assumes Colombia's temporary tax continues.

Image rights: if you hold rights to an image used here and want it credited differently or removed, contact support@askspinner.com.