Peru Operators Poised For Consumption Tax Relief

June 15, 2025
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Peru’s Congress has passed a bill to apply a controversial consumption tax for online gambling on a gross revenue basis, instead of on the value of every bet.
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Peru’s Congress has passed a bill to apply a controversial consumption tax for online gambling on a gross revenue basis, instead of on the value of every bet.

Article 3 of Bill 9645/2024 specifies that the selective consumption tax should be applied to online gaming and sports betting on the same basis as casino, lottery or bingo games, which pay the tax based on monthly gross gaming revenue after prize payouts.

Approval of the bill, which was passed unanimously on Thursday (June 12) by a vote of 96-0, follows a December decree by Peru’s Ministry of Economy to assess a 1 percent consumption tax on the value of every bet placed online.

A subsequent decree set the tax at a lower rate of 0.3 percent of turnover, but only until the end of June, when the 1 percent rate is due to be reinstated. 

Bill 9645 also ensures the consumption tax will apply equally to domestic and international operators, as well as to Peruvian-resident players and non-residents, according to Carlos Fonseca Sarmiento, a Lima-based gaming law expert.

After unanimously approving the bill, Peru’s unicameral legislature also elected to bypass a second vote and send the bill straight to the desk of President Dina Boluarte.

“We hope that the President does not veto the law and approves it as soon as possible, because the harm that this tax has done is in some cases irreparable since some operators have had to exit the market,” Fonseca wrote on LinkedIn.

Frustration with the consumption tax was a consistent theme among Peruvian industry representatives at the recent SBC Summit Americas in Miami.

Still, Peruvian executives also expressed cautious optimism that a legislative fix could be approved before the higher rate of 1 percent was due to kick in at the end of June.

The new legislation should dramatically reduce, if not eliminate, the “negative distortions” the consumption tax was having on Peru’s nascent online gambling market, said Nicolás Samahod Rivarola, partner of Vidal Cáceres Abogados law firm in Lima.

“I believe this bill is smart and relevant because, in my opinion, it generates empathy with entrepreneurs and investors, both domestic and foreign, in the industry,” Samahod told Vixio GamblingCompliance.

Although Samohod described the amendments to the consumption tax as the “most important” provisions of the bill, they are not the only changes to Peruvian gambling laws included in the legislation.

Article 2 of the bill establishes criminal penalties for match-fixing and betting-related corruption, with those who attempt to manipulate sports events subject to prison terms of four to eight years, or six to nine years in the case of players, referees, or other sports officials.

Another provision of the bill clarifies the authority of gambling regulators within Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism (Mincetur) to shut down unauthorised venues offering gaming or sports betting terminals.

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