Coljuegos Requested the Blocking of an Illegal Website That Operates Bets on Electoral Events
Betting on electoral events is not regulated in the Colombia and, therefore, represents an illegal form of gambling. As a result, Coljuegos has requested the internet service providers to block the Polymarket website, which uses predictions, money collection, and cryptocurrency bets without the entity’s authorization.
“We want to inform Colombians that this website is illegal and does not have the necessary permits to operate online gaming in Colombia. Therefore, we have requested that the site be blocked and have opened an investigation into those responsible for this illegal activity,” said Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos.
Thus, while the platform is promoted as a “future event prediction” website, in practice, legal elements such as asset risk, expected reward, and the outcome dependent on an uncertain event are established, which define games of chance and luck.
“We remind citizens that the exploitation of games of chance is a state-funded monopoly, and that any type of betting requires authorization from Coljuegos,” Hincapié added.
It is worth mentioning that, to date, Coljuegos has requested the blocking of 28,100 websites that operated illegal online games, and it is expected that nearly 3000 additional blocking requests will be issued in the coming months.
“Our goal is to defend the legal industry, which this year has already contributed $256.746 billion for subsidized healthcare, and nearly $783 billion in VAT,” said the president of the organization.
It is important to note that in Colombia there are only 14 legal online gaming operators: Rushbet, Stake, BingoCasinos, Betano, Betplay, Wplay, Sportium, Codere, Luckia, Rivalo, YaJuego, Bwin, Zamba, and Betsson.
