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Colombia's Coljuegos has continued its strategy of blocking the websites of unauthorised operators, announcing this week that a total of 8,676 sports-betting and online casino websites have been blocked in the country to date.
Coljuegos president Marco Emilio Hincapié commented that web-blocking initiatives were part of the regulator's broader strategy of “cracking down on illegality both physically and virtually”.
“We have already hired a firm specialising in cybersecurity and digital monitoring to intensify efforts to identify and block portals where illegal betting is carried out or promoted,” Hincapié said.
“We hope that during the second half of this year we will be able to block hundreds of websites and even social media profiles where illegal games of chance are promoted or carried out.”
ISP blocking is not a new tactic for Coljuegos, which first rolled out the strategy after regulations were introduced in 2016 to establish the first licensing system for online gambling in Latin America.
Still, Juan Camilo Carrasco, a Colombian gaming law expert with Asensi Abogados, told Vixio GamblingCompliance that Coljuegos should consider other enforcement mechanisms beyond ISP blocking and be careful not to overextend the regime.
“Although it is a good measure, we all know that it is not enough. It is known that the best way is through payment systems,” Carrasco told Vixio.
Carrasco explained that it is illegal to operate in Colombia without authorisation from Coljuegos, but that it cannot be considered illegal to "to exist in the global commercial universe, and to be a bookmaker whose brand can be seen by Colombian consumers, who, although not authorised in Colombia, also does not offer bets and does not allow the registration of players from Colombian territory".
“This would be like decreeing FIFA illegal for promoting a bookmaker in the USA and Germany during the Copa America and Euro Cup respectively.”
ISP blocking is an increasingly prominent enforcement strategy for authorities and regulators in Latin America.
Last year, the Chilean Supreme Court ordered 23 websites to be blocked as part of an ongoing battle to regulate online gambling in the country.
Website-blocking provisions are included under Brazil's new law to regulate online gambling and sports betting that is due to take full effect in January.
Meanwhile, regulators in Peru have also said that when the country's own licensing process is complete they will block unlicensed operators, an initiative which Lima-based lawyer Nicolás Samohod Rivarola called legal but “we have to see if they are going to be able to do it well”.
