Colombia’s online gambling licensees continue to expand in number as the market shows little sign of saturation.
Last week, Colombia’s Coljuegos gaming regulatory body announced the issuance of the country’s 18th online gambling license to Grupo Vinnare SAS, which has been granted a three-year authorization to offer online sports betting and casino games via the Fullreto.co domain.
Little is known about Grupo Vinnare, other than the company was incorporated in Bogota in November 2017. The Fullreto.com site currently displays only a ‘coming soon’ splash screen.
Coljuegos president Juan B. Pérez Hidalgo celebrated the arrival of yet another online licensee, which he hopes will continue to boost the gambling sector’s contributions to the nation’s medical funding programs.
Online gambling now constitutes around 10% of Coljuegos’ overall gambling revenue and has provided medical funding for 47k residents since the country approved its online market in 2016, becoming the first South American jurisdiction to take the online plunge.
As of August 31, 2019, Coljuegos’ online licensees boasted a combined 2.63m active accounts, which Pérez Hidalgo claimed was a reflection of the market’s success in convincing Colombian punters to patronize locally licensed gambling sites.
Through the first half of 2019, Colombia’s online gambling revenue improved by 63% from the same period last year. But the pace of new licenses being issued has slowed dramatically, and Grupo Vinnare’s diploma was only the second one issued this year.
Coljuegos continues to work to make its online licenses attractive to prospective operators, including holding a consultation this summer on whether to modify its 2016 gaming regulations to allow operators to offer virtual sports betting products. The window for operators’ submissions closed on September 10 but the regulator has yet to update licensees on when they might add virtual products to their lineup.
