Colombia Opens Talks on 19% VAT for Online Gambling Deposits Ahead of 16 December Deadline

^{El Capitolio Nacional in Bogotá, seat of Colombia's Congress. Lawmakers are debating a tax bill that would put 19% VAT on online gambling deposits. (Photo: Rikimedia / Wikimedia Commons)}

Colombia's government and members of Congress have opened technical talks on a tax bill that would apply 19% VAT to online gambling deposits. Working groups began meeting on 10 November to go through Bill 477/2026C, known as the Economic Rescue Bill, with the government needing approval by 16 December.

Finance Minister Miguel Gómez Martínez submitted the bill to the Chamber of Representatives on 29 October. It is aimed at stabilising public finances through spending cuts and new taxes, and it was filed as urgent, which means the economic committees of both chambers will debate it together.

What Article 41 Would Change

Article 41 would remove the VAT exclusion for games operated exclusively online and apply the standard 19% rate. The taxable base would be the player's deposit, whether made in cash, by bank transfer or in cryptoassets, divided by 1.19. A deposit of COP119,000 would therefore carry COP19,000 in VAT.

Operators would be the liable party, including those based abroad, when the player is a tax resident, is domiciled or does business in Colombia. That reach matters in a market where illegal and offshore operators have long been a target for the regulator.

The same article would double the monthly taxable bases for land-based gambling. Slot machines would rise from 20 to 40 tax value units (UVT), gaming tables from 290 to 580 UVT and bingo from three to six UVT per seat. Lotteries would remain exempt.

Article 52 of the bill would also raise the occasional gains tax on prizes from lotteries, raffles and betting from 20% to 30%, a separate burden that would fall on winners rather than operators.

The Government's Case and the Industry's Response

In the bill's explanatory memorandum, the government says online gambling revenue has kept growing despite earlier tax measures. It cites nominal growth of more than 100% in exploitation rights through September 2026 compared with the same period of 2025, even after the VAT set by Decree 175 of 2025 and the consumption tax set by Decree 240 of 2026.

The Colombian Federation of Gambling Entrepreneurs (Fecoljuegos) is preparing an alternative tax proposal for the Ministry of Finance and Congress. The body represents manufacturers, suppliers and operators of casinos, bingo halls and online platforms, and its members include Betsson Group, Codere, Wplay and Betano. Its president, Evert Montero, said the industry was willing to help.

Tax advisers have also pointed to gaps in the drafting. Crowe Colombia wrote that the coordination of the deposit-based tax with unwagered deposits, withdrawals and adjustments needs to be clarified, while stopping short of saying the text would tax players twice.

The Timetable in Congress

The working groups were agreed between the government and members of Congress's economic committees at a meeting in Barranquilla on 7 November. On 10 November, the Senate committees named their rapporteurs for the first debate: Conservative senator David Barguil for the Third Committee and Carlos Mario Farelo of Cambio Radical for the Fourth.

The joint committees are expected to debate the bill in the last week of November, leaving a narrow window before the government's 16 December deadline to secure approval in the current legislative session. Any change to Article 41 would have to be agreed within that period.

Colombia is not the only Latin American market where tax and regulation are being fought over in public. In Brazil, betting demand has fallen back to 2022 levels since the ban debate began, a reminder of how quickly policy can reshape the market.