Four markets, four models
The Spanish-speaking markets that matter most for online gambling are Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Mexico. They are smaller than Brazil individually and comparable collectively, and each shows a different regulatory model. Learning them side by side is the fastest way to understand how varied the region is.
Colombia: the pioneer
Colombia regulated online gambling in 2016 through Coljuegos, the national gambling regulator, which issued its regulation for games operated over the internet in May 2016 after a 2015 amendment to the gaming law, and became the reference model for the region. Licences (concession contracts) are available to legal entities for online games of chance and sports betting; under the gaming law a concession term may be no shorter than three years and no longer than five. The market has grown steadily, with a mix of local operators, international groups operating through local subsidiaries, and the state's own lottery products; Coljuegos counted 14 authorised online operators in May 2025.
The features that matter: a levy on gross gaming revenue set as a concession right (by law at least 15% of gross income minus prizes paid for games returning 83% or more to players, otherwise at least 17% of gross income, plus for internet games a fixed annual payment of 811 monthly minimum wages), a tax position that has been unstable in the mid-2020s (an emergency decree imposed 19% VAT on deposits from 22 February to 31 December 2025; a later decree imposing VAT on gross gaming revenue was struck down by the Constitutional Court in 2026, a further emergency decree of March 2026 created a 16% consumption tax on deposits with online operators, and in July 2026 the government asked Congress to make the VAT permanent), a well-developed technical certification regime, strong enforcement against unlicensed sites through domain blocking and payment blocking (the law lets the authorities monitor websites and financial entities and order blocks; since 2025 Coljuegos has sent block lists directly to internet service providers, having issued about 26,600 block orders by May 2025), and a regulator that publishes data and consults the industry. Colombia is also where several operators built their regional operating model before Brazil opened.
Product notes: football and local sports drive betting; casino and live casino grew fast once licensed; payments through local wallets, cash vouchers and bank transfer as well as cards. Marketing is regulated but permitted, including sponsorship: the top football division is the Liga BetPlay Dimayor, named after a betting brand.
Peru: the recent licensing round
Peru passed its online gambling and sports betting law (Law 31557, published on 13 August 2022) and opened licensing in 2024 under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), which already authorises land-based casinos and slot halls; applications opened on 13 February 2024 and licensed operators became taxable from 1 April 2024. Licences are available for both online sports betting and online gaming to Peruvian companies, to branches of foreign companies and, since a 2023 amendment (Law 31806), to foreign companies without a branch. The tax is 12% of net win (stakes less prizes and refunds, less a 2% maintenance allowance), plus a selective consumption tax (ISC) of 1% on the value of each bet.
Peru's regulated online market is younger than Colombia's but has a long history of betting through retail networks, a large offshore-served customer base to convert (when applications opened, Mincetur had identified 115 companies offering online gaming or betting in Peru, 86 of them not domiciled there), and a regulator that moved from law to regulation to licensing in under two years. The technical requirements follow the regional pattern (games and platforms certified by accredited laboratories, integration with the regulator's systems).
Argentina: a federation of markets
Argentina regulates gambling at the provincial level. There is no national online licence; each province decides whether and how to license online gambling, and the answer varies from open licensing to state monopoly to nothing. The two that matter most are the Province of Buenos Aires (the largest population, where the lottery institute may award up to seven online licences, one per licensee, and where foreign bidders had to bid jointly with a local company) and the City of Buenos Aires (a separate jurisdiction with its own licensing round, which set no cap on permits and required no local partner). Córdoba, Mendoza and others have followed with their own frameworks.
The consequence is that serving Argentina means holding several licences, each with its own partner rules, tax (provincial gaming taxes plus federal taxes, including a federal tax on online bets created in 2016, amended in 2020 and only brought into collection by a June 2022 decree, a tax on the bettor collected by the operator or payment intermediary, charged at 5% of net deposits with registered local operators (2.5% where the operator has qualifying local investment) and at 10% or 15% where a foreign operator is involved), technical rules and reporting. Cross-border play between provinces is a compliance issue in itself: a customer in a province where the operator is unlicensed must be geoblocked. Argentina's macroeconomic volatility (high inflation and years of currency controls) adds a layer of financial risk that other markets do not carry. The central bank eased the controls in April 2025, allowing dividends to non-resident shareholders out of audited profits for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025, but profits from earlier years were not covered and the rules have changed often, so dividend repatriation remains a real planning issue.
The reward is a large, football-obsessed population with high digital adoption and strong existing betting habits. Many international groups are present through partnerships with local casino, bingo or lottery operators; the first Buenos Aires Province licences went to pairings of international operators with local bingo and gaming companies.
Mexico: an old law stretched over a new market
Mexico regulates gambling under the Federal Gaming and Raffles Law of 1947 and its 2004 regulation, administered by the Interior Ministry (SEGOB). There is no online-specific licence; online operations run under permits issued for land-based establishments, whose holders the regulation allows to take bets via the internet, telephone or electronic means (article 85). The result is a market that is legal and large but regulated on foundations that were never designed for it, with permit holders lending their permits to online brands, a practice tolerated but periodically questioned: a 2023 amendment to the regulation declared prohibited any gambling activity not expressly provided for and barred operating several establishments under one permit.
Tax is a federal special tax (IEPS) on the operator, which rose from 30% to 50% on 1 January 2026 and now also reaches foreign online operators without a Mexican establishment, plus state-level taxes that vary, plus federal income tax of 1% on betting winnings, withheld by the payer. Payments are through cards, local wallets and cash networks; the cash channel is unusually important. The market has a strong sports betting culture (football, and American sports through proximity to the United States) and an established land-based casino industry that supplies most of the online permit holders.
The 1947 law has never been substantively rewritten, and reform has been proposed and stalled repeatedly. In September 2026 the Interior Secretary said a reform of the law aimed at money laundering and tax fraud was ready for review by the security cabinet. Entrants should assume the current permit-based model persists until a new law is actually passed, plan around a permit holder relationship, and monitor reform proposals that could change the basis of every online operation at once.
Reading across the four
| Question | Colombia | Peru | Argentina | Mexico |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulator | Coljuegos (national) | Mincetur (national) | Provincial lottery bodies | SEGOB (federal) plus states |
| Online licence | Yes, direct | Yes, direct | Per province, partner rules vary | Via land-based permit holder |
| Tax base | GGR concession right (15% minimum at 83%+ payout); emergency VAT and consumption taxes contested | 12% of net win plus 1% ISC on bets | Provincial plus federal | Federal IEPS (50% from 2026) plus state |
| Enforcement | Strong: domain and payment blocking | Building | Varies by province | Limited, tightening from 2026 |
| Payments | Wallets, vouchers, transfers | Wallets, transfers, retail | Transfers, wallets, currency issues | Cards, wallets, cash |
| Entry route | Direct or acquisition | Direct | Provincial licences, partner where required | Permit holder partnership |
The table is a starting point; each cell has changed at least once in the last five years, and the next lesson's discipline (identify the regulator, the licence, the tax, the enforcement posture and the payment reality, then verify each against the primary source) is the only durable method.
Chile, and the rest
Chile deserves a note: a bill to license online betting platforms has been before Congress since March 2022; the Chamber of Deputies passed it in December 2023 and the Senate approved it in general in August 2025, but in September 2026 it was still in Senate committee. Meanwhile the state-authorised lotteries and the courts have pushed back on offshore operators: in 2025 the Supreme Court, on a claim by Lotería de Concepción, ordered internet providers to block unlicensed betting sites. Once licensed, Chile is expected to be a significant market. Ecuador, Paraguay and Panama are smaller markets worth a watching brief; Central America and the Caribbean are mostly land-based-led with online formalising slowly.
The next lesson turns from the markets to the licence itself: what a Latin American application involves and how compliance runs once it is granted.