Colombia's Bill 477 Would Put 19% VAT on Online Betting Deposits

Colombia's Ministry of Finance filed Bill 477 of 2026 in the Cámara de Representantes (House of Representatives) on 29 October 2026, proposing 19% value-added tax (VAT) on online betting deposits, higher fixed tax bases for casino games and a 30% tax on gambling winnings.

The measure is part of the government's "Ley de Rescate Económico" (Economic Rescue Law), a 106-article fiscal package. Its gambling provisions sit in Article 41, which rewrites literal (e) of Article 420 of the Estatuto Tributario (Tax Statute), and Article 52, which amends Article 317 of the same code. The bill is not law and still has to clear Congress.

How the deposit VAT would work

Operators would owe 19% VAT on the money or crypto-assets a bettor sends to an online account to obtain the right to bet. This base applies to games operated exclusively online. The VAT base is the deposit divided by 1.19, and the general VAT rate is applied to that base.

Gambling.com gives a worked example: a COP 119,000 deposit produces a COP 100,000 base and COP 19,000 of VAT. A COP 100,000 deposit produces a base of about COP 84,034 and VAT of about COP 15,966, so roughly COP 84,000 would remain as the taxable betting amount rather than COP 81,000.

The liability falls on the operator, not the player. Article 41 states the operator is liable even when it operates from abroad. The tax is triggered where the user has fiscal residence, domicile, a permanent establishment or the seat of their economic activity in Colombia. The text also says the VAT charged is not part of the wager value, and that the tax generated is affected by deductible taxes, meaning input VAT can be offset.

Article 41 is wider than deposits. It amends the general gambling VAT provision and covers all gambling except lotteries. Outside games run exclusively online, the base remains the value of the bet.

G3 Newswire reports that Article 41 is separate from the existing levy on the regulated online market. Gambling.com notes that levy is charged on gross gaming revenue, meaning bets minus prizes, per two-month period. The bill's draft does not change it.

Land-based bases and the winnings tax

For dedicated gaming venues, the fixed bases double; the prize tax rises by ten points. The bases are expressed in UVT (Unidad de Valor Tributario, a tax value unit used to index Colombian tax amounts).

The increases therefore do not apply across the board. Slot machines in non-gambling venues and other localized games under Law 643 of 2001, the statute that governs gambling in Colombia, keep their 20 UVT base.

Timeline and legislative path

The bill needs four debates, reconciliation between chambers and presidential sanction before it can take effect. According to Goyen Legal's tracker as of 30 October 2026, it was at the publication-and-assignment stage and due to go to the Third and Fourth Commissions. El Nuevo Siglo reported the filing on 29 October.

Article 41 carries no start date of its own. Under Article 106, it would apply from promulgation unless Congress changes the wording. The VAT overhaul the bill schedules for 2028 applies to other goods, not gambling. Goyen also lists VAT on items such as liquor, cloud services and low-value courier imports from promulgation, plus a cut in corporate income tax to 33% in 2027 and 31% from 2028.

Goyen says the 2024 and 2025 financing laws both failed in the economic commissions, on 11 December 2024 and 9 December 2025. World Casino Directory says an earlier version of the deposit VAT did not win congressional approval.

Earlier attempts and industry reaction

A deposit VAT has been tried in Colombia before. According to EY, the government imposed temporary taxes in early 2025 under a state of internal unrest decree linked to the Catatumbo security crisis, including a 19% VAT on online gambling deposits. Gamingo covered that measure in Colombia's temporary online gambling tax. Earlier proposals include Colombia's push to tax online sports betting in 2024, and tax rules aimed at player bonuses followed in October 2025.

The industry is pushing back. iGamingExpert reports that licensed operators are being urged to rethink the plan. El Diario reports that Fecoljuegos, the trade body for casinos, bingo and gaming, is preparing a counter-proposal that would treat online betting and land-based casinos differently.

For operators, the main exposure is the foreign-operator language in Article 41. Licensed and unlicensed platforms alike could face a liability tied to the user's Colombian link. This sits alongside enforcement against illegal gambling operations, which has been a parallel theme in Colombian policy. Payment processors and affiliates serving Colombian players should model the VAT effect on deposit flows, since a 19% charge changes how much of each deposit reaches the wager.

Status reviewed on 3 November 2026. Figures and article references come from the filed text of Bill 477 of 2026 and Goyen Legal's tracking of the bill. More regulation news and Latin America coverage.