Colombia’s Gambling Hits 2% of GDP, Surpassing Coffee
Economy: Colombia
Key Facts
—Milestone. Legal gambling now accounts for more than 2% of Colombia’s GDP, up from under 0.5% before the pandemic, according to Corficolombiana.
—Comparison. That share has overtaken traditional pillars including coffee and coal, whose contribution is around 0.7% of GDP for coal.
—Driver. Online betting and the 2026 FIFA World Cup supercharged growth; gambling explains more than 80% of the entertainment sector’s recent expansion.
—World Cup. Colombians placed about 122 million bets during the tournament, wagering roughly COP 5.3 trillion (about US$1.3 billion) a month at the peak.
—Context. Entertainment as a whole now nears 4.7% of GDP, ahead of construction and mining, after roughly doubling since 2019.
Fueled by online betting and the 2026 World Cup, Colombia’s legal gambling sector now tops 2% of GDP, overtaking coffee and coal to become one of the economy’s most striking structural shifts.
Colombia’s Gambling 2% of GDP Milestone
Legal gambling now represents more than 2% of Colombia’s gross domestic product, up from less than 0.5% before the pandemic, according to an analysis by Corficolombiana, the research arm of one of the country’s largest financial groups. That share now exceeds traditional pillars including coffee and coal.
For scale, Corficolombiana and local outlets put coal at roughly 0.7% of GDP and civil works around 1.1% — both now below gambling. Coffee, long a symbol of the Colombian economy, has likewise been surpassed as a share of output.
The figures come from national accounts compiled by the statistics agency DANE, interpreted by Corficolombiana’s sectoral research team. They describe a structural change, not a one-off spike.
How Gambling Reached 2% of GDP
The turning point was regulation. Law 1753 of 2015 formalized online gambling, letting the activity scale rapidly through digital channels and expanding from a handful of licensed operators into a monitored national market.
Corficolombiana found that gambling-related production jumped 444% in current pesos and 314% in real terms between 2019 and 2024, lifting its share of total entertainment output from about a fifth to roughly half. More than 80% of the entertainment sector’s recent growth is attributed to gambling.
Entertainment overall has practically doubled since late 2019, growing about 100% while the wider economy expanded just 16%. That pushed entertainment’s share of GDP from under 3% before the pandemic to about 4.7%, ahead of construction and mining.
The World Cup Effect
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across North America, poured fuel on the trend. The national gambling federation Fecoljuegos estimates Colombians placed around 122 million bets during the tournament, with some platforms recording more than 750,000 active users during a single match.
Monthly betting volume reached roughly COP 5.3 trillion (about US$1.3 billion) at the peak, according to Corficolombiana. The tournament turned casual viewers into bettors and compressed a year’s worth of growth into a few weeks.
Crucially, the amount wagered is not what operators keep. Most is returned to players as winnings, so headline betting volumes dwarf the industry’s actual revenue.
Reading the Numbers Carefully
Different official sources measure very different things. DANE reports gambling-related production rising from about US$3.15 billion in 2019 to more than US$17 billion in 2024. The tax authority DIAN, by contrast, recorded gross gambling revenue of roughly US$1.04 billion in 2019, climbing to US$2.89 billion in 2024.
The gap reflects payouts: total money wagered far exceeds what operators actually earn after paying winners. During the World Cup, Fecoljuegos estimated that heavy monthly betting volumes generated only a fraction of that in operator revenue once prizes were paid.
That distinction matters for policy. The national government has proposed taxing deposits users place on online betting platforms, a measure the report suggests could raise several hundred million dollars a year from 2027.
Benefits, Risks and What Comes Next
Formalization has delivered public benefits. Licensed operators channel a share of revenue to Colombia’s subsidized health system, and transaction tracking has made the market easier to monitor than the informal betting it replaced.
The boom carries risks too. Regulators warn about problem gambling and addiction, and Coljuegos, the state gambling regulator, has pursued illegal operators and ordered blocks on unlicensed betting sites. Rapid growth has widened the gap between what is taxed and what is wagered.
Corficolombiana projects entertainment will keep growing in 2026, with gambling’s share of GDP approaching 3%. Whether that makes the sector a durable pillar or a bubble tied to sporting calendars is now a live question for Colombia’s next government.
More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Colombia’s gambling sector really bigger than coffee and coal?
Yes. Corficolombiana’s analysis of DANE data puts legal gambling at more than 2% of GDP, above coal (around 0.7%) and coffee, though the sectors are measured in different ways.
What drove gambling to 2% of GDP?
The 2015 law formalizing online betting, years of digital growth, and a surge during the 2026 World Cup, when Colombians placed about 122 million bets.
Does 2% of GDP mean operators earn that much?
No. That share reflects production measured in national accounts. Most money wagered is paid back to players, so operators’ actual revenue is far smaller.
Sources
Sources: ColombiaOne; El Colombiano; El Espectador; Corficolombiana and DANE.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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