The entity was created in November 2011.
Colombia.- Last Tuesday, November 5, Coljuegos, the Colombian gaming regulatory body, celebrated its 13th anniversary with authorities and workers. Since its inception in November 2011, Coljuegos has transferred around COP6 trillion (USD1370m) to the subsidized health system, funds that come from the monopoly rents paid by games in their localized, novel, raffle, and promotional modalities.
Upon speaking, Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos, said: "We are celebrating 13 years serving Colombians. As a company that manages the monopoly, we are pleased to say that we are part of one of the industries that contributes the most resources to attend to the most needy Colombians."
He added: "Of the total resources that Coljuegos has contributed to health, more than COP 2.2 trillion (USD502m) correspond to the period of our president Gustavo Petro. Our purpose is to continue increasing the transfers to contribute to the social justice promoted by the National Development Plan."
Furthermore, Hincapié highlighted that Coljuegos is the “model regulatory entity in Latin America”, as it not only strengthens the industry but has also set a regional milestone in both revenue collection and the fight against illegality.
"For a year now, we have been writing a new story for the entity in terms of fighting unauthorized betting. That is why we have already destroyed more than 8,300 illegal gaming elements that failed to transfer about COP250,000m (USD57m) annually for health," Hincapié indicated.
See also: Money laundering prevention: Coljuegos defines a roadmap to eradicate the issue
On the other hand, in the context of the anniversary celebration, the president of the entity referred to advances in institutional modernization to improve control and revenue collection: "Starting this year, Coljuegos has a Artificial Intelligence Center that allows us to monitor transfers in real time, as well as track illegal betting web portals," he assured.
"In addition to this, we are advancing in the institutional redesign so that the entity operates administratively and technologically according to current needs," the official said.
