Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro remains determined to cement a permanent 19% VAT on gambling despite a court decision to pause his emergency economic measures.
Colombia’s government introduced a temporary 19% value-added tax on all online gambling deposits as part of a wider slew of financial reforms to boost the country’s economy, which was only meant to last until 31 December.
However, Finance Minister Germán Ávila revealed to local media that he has been instructed to make the 19% tax on deposits a permanent part of Colombia’s budget proposal for 2026 as the country closes in on a general election on 31 May.
This news comes at the same time that Colombia’s Constitutional Court ordered the pause of a decree to apply the VAT on domestic and foreign operators as part of a decree put forward by Petro to push through Colombia’s 2026 budget in light of the country’s economic situation.
However, in a relief to gambling operators across the country, Petro’s wider economic reforms are currently pending a review of their ‘constitutional validity’.
The decision to impose VAT on the gambling industry has been met with widespread condemnation, with many describing it as a “counterproductive” measure that has actually reduced tax contributions.
For example, in July 2025, Colombia’s trade association, Coljuegos, contributed just 23.1bn pesos (£4.7m), compared to 43.3bn pesos (£8.9bn) during the same month last year, representing a 46.6% drop.
Evert Montero Cárdenas, President of Coljuegos, said: “It’s an unsustainable burden from a financial standpoint. Operators have been forced to grant bonuses to absorb the VAT impact and avoid passing it on to users.”
In November, Spanish Gaming Group Codere also confirmed that it would no longer be investing in the Colombian market unless the government reversed its tax policy.
According to the latest polls, Colombia’s citizens remain largely divided ahead of the upcoming elections.
Petro faces competition from within his own Pacto Histórico party, as well as from the centrist Dignity Party and the conservative candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, who has been labelled as ‘Colombia’s Bolsonaro’.
As a result, even if Petro can push through a permanent addition of VAT on gaming deposits before the election, hope remains for operators that a change in leadership could signal a U-turn.
“It’s unclear what direction those elections will go,” Codere’s outgoing CFO, Oscar Iglesias, told investors in November.
“Even if [the tax] gets legislated, somehow you have more centrist or right-leaning parties come into power and unwind what has been a tax that has not been helpful in terms of reaching that objective of actually generating additional tax revenues for the government coffers.”
