´Online gaming has consolidated as a very important option because it is the one that pays the most return to the player´

Considering the numbers obtained by exploitation rights in 2019, Could you tell us how important is that income for the development of the country?

In Colombia, the resources obtained through the gambling sector are allocated for the health of Colombians. It enabled to communicate the players the need to play legally and responsibly. Last year, with the exploitation rights and VAT, the sector contributed with around 459 million dollars. This industry generates 100,000 jobs in Colombia and some 20,000 leases. These companies pay a lot of taxes, and it is a sector that has become highly professional, and constitutes a very important source of resources for the state. In this case, all of these resources go to the health of Colombians.

What impact has the pandemic have on the games of chance sector?

Here in Colombia we have localized games. This sector has been hit hard by the pandemic because they have practically been closed for 6 months. Now we are drawing a resolution to implement remote bingo halls, that is, without the physical presence of the bettor, and let's say that this sector was the most complicated.

Online games, which began in Colombia in 2017, we have that 78% are in sports bets. In the absence of sports betting, these resources have diminished, since the beginning of the pandemic. There have already been some sporting events that have started in the world, and we in the country have taken out the live casino, trying to expand this portfolio of services for Internet-operated games.

We also have paramutual and counterpart games, which have been operating practically all the time, and today we have a higher collection than the previous year in this period.

How can you compare online gambling with the localized games counterpart?

It is very difficult to compare, since the casinos have been closed, and online gambling has had a very important growth. We are already reaching levels close to 50 million dollars in exploitation rights. These Internet-operated games have performed well and we hope that they will continue to do so later, because many people are changing consumer habits. There are many traditional players who are now participating in this online market.

Do you think it will be a turning point for online gaming?

We already have 3,900,000 players registered on the platform in Colombia, and online gaming has become a very important option, because it is the one that pays the most return to the player. About 90% of sales are for the payment of prizes.

At Coljuegos we are interested in this being a good business, since to the extent that the operator does well, we do well. At the collection level, we have grown 75% in the last 4 years. This is a successful experience that shows that good management has been done, and that if the monopoly is well managed, it is a good business for entrepreneurs and a very important collection for health is generated. Here the role of the regulator has been to reduce response times for procedures; make these procedures fully automated. A permit that used to take 6 months now takes 11 days. And we have shown that COLJUEGOS is a transparent company.