Coljuegos presents its report on the fight against illegal gambling
Coljuegos presented the results of its strategy to combat illegality for the 2022-2026 period, with the seizure of 12,852 illegal gambling elements in 24 departments across the country, through 514 operations carried out in coordination with the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, territorial authorities, and other competent entities. The regulator stated that, for the first time in its history, it achieved the destruction of 15,644 illegal elements, including electronic slot machines, betting modules, roulette wheels, and other equipment used to operate unauthorized games.
The president of Coljuegos, Marco Emilio Hincapié, stated that criminal organizations dedicated to operating unauthorized games faced a period of strong pressure and that the entity struck blows in the country's main cities, with no territories off-limits for control. The official also pointed out that these illegal activities caused more than 400 billion pesos, about 126.9 million dollars, to fail to enter Colombia's health system.
During the period, Coljuegos issued 58,916 blocking orders for websites dedicated to operating and promoting illegal betting, including 437 social media profiles that advertised unauthorized sportsbooks, and transferred more than 1,961 cases to the Attorney General's Office that had been stalled since 2017, with the aim of investigating those responsible. Likewise, it imposed 209 sanctions for illegality totaling over 94.739 billion pesos, about 30 million dollars. The entity attributed these results to the signing of 56 legality pacts with mayoralties, governorships, gambling operators, guilds, and chance concessionaires.
Hincapié stated that the fight against illegality is not limited to combating crime but aims to recover resources, protect public trust, and ensure that money that previously fed illegal structures is converted into well-being for the population. In its accountability report for the 2022-2026 period, Coljuegos also reported that transfers from national and territorial gambling reached 7.21 trillion pesos, about 2.249 billion dollars, from the beginning of the current administration until July 2026, with resources allocated to financing the health system.
Tags: Coljuegos, Marco Emilio Hincapié, fight against illegal gambling in Colombia, pacts for legality