Colombia’s Gambling Industry Now Accounts for More Than 2% of GDP After World Cup Betting Surge

Colombia’s gambling industry now represents more than 2% of the country’s gross domestic product, a milestone driven largely by a surge in betting activity tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. National accounts data from DANE, Colombia’s statistics agency, shows the entertainment sector as a whole has nearly doubled in size since before the pandemic, and gambling now sits at the center of that growth.

According to DANE, gambling-related production climbed from roughly $3.15 billion in 2019 to more than $17.01 billion in 2024. Colombia’s tax authority, DIAN, recorded gross gambling revenue of about $1.04 billion in 2019, rising to $2.89 billion in 2024, and industry estimates project online operators will bring in closer to $1.18 billion in 2026.

Entertainment’s Outsized Role in Colombia’s Economy

Colombia’s overall GDP grew just 16% between late 2019 and early 2026, according to DANE figures, while entertainment production climbed roughly 100% over the same stretch. That growth pushed entertainment’s share of the national economy from under 3% before the pandemic to 4.7% today, putting it ahead of both construction and mining as a share of output.

Gambling has been the primary engine behind that shift. An analysis from Corficolombiana found that production tied to betting activity jumped 444% in current pesos and 314% in real terms between 2019 and 2024, expanding gambling’s share of total entertainment production from roughly a fifth to about half.

The World Cup Effect

Colombia’s hosting of World Cup matches in 2026 gave the sector an unmistakable jolt. SuperGiros, a sports betting statistics service that tracks the market, estimated that wagers reached COP 5.3 trillion during the tournament, with roughly 122 million individual bets placed and monthly turnover hitting the same COP 5.3 trillion mark, according to figures from industry association Fecoljuegos.

That volume also fed directly into public funding. Colombian law requires licensed operators to send 15% of their real operating revenue to the country’s subsidized health system, and SuperGiros said the industry funneled more than a quarter of a trillion pesos — about COP 120 billion — into that system across just two months of World Cup play.

Still, the gap between total wagers and what operators actually keep is significant once player payouts are factored in. Fecoljuegos estimated that $1.67 billion in monthly betting volume during the tournament generated only about $94.5 million in monthly revenue for operators after prize winnings were paid out — a distinction Corficolombiana says matters for how policymakers think about taxing the sector.

A Market Under Growing Tax Pressure

The boom is unfolding alongside an increasingly complex tax regime. Colombia’s government has floated making a 19% VAT on internet-based games of chance permanent, a measure it projects could generate COP 21.8 trillion by 2027, while separately proposing a tax on user deposits to online betting platforms that Corficolombiana estimates could raise roughly $630.3 million in 2027.

Operators say the cumulative tax burden — layering VAT, a consumption tax tied to 2026 flood-relief measures, and the existing 15% health-system contribution — has at times approached 60% of revenue, up from levels closer to 15% just a few years ago. Corredor Empresarial, the operator behind BetPlay, Colombia’s largest domestic sports betting platform, has said it still expects to close 2026 with growth above 35% in betting volume thanks to the World Cup, even as it works to recover from a temporary 19% VAT that applied to internet-only games of chance between February and November of last year before being repealed.

A Maturing, Closely Watched Regulatory Market

Colombia’s market, regulated by Coljuegos since 2016, now counts 15 licensed online operators, including BetPlay, Betsson, Rushbet, Betano, Codere, Wplay and Stake, competing for a share of a rapidly digitizing betting economy. The regulator has continued approving new entrants even as it steps up enforcement against unlicensed offshore books — Coljuegos has reported issuing more than 46,000 blocking orders against unauthorized betting websites since 2022, arguing that only its authorized operators can guarantee data protection, timely prize payment, and continued contributions to the health system that gambling revenue helps fund.

That enforcement push matters for bettors weighing where to place money as the market keeps growing. The same dynamic — separating regulated, licensed platforms from unregulated alternatives — is central to how U.S. bettors are encouraged to evaluate sportsbook reviews before signing up anywhere, since licensing and oversight tend to be the clearest signal of an operator’s legitimacy regardless of which country’s market is being discussed.

For now, Colombia’s gambling sector shows no signs of slowing. With online operators projected to generate close to $1.18 billion in revenue in 2026 and a World Cup-driven surge still working its way through the country’s economic data, the industry’s footprint within Colombia’s GDP figures to keep expanding even as lawmakers debate how much more of that growth they can tax.