Colombia weighs new gambling tax measures as Petro’s government activates emergency powers after northern floods

Bogotá is considering adjustments to “games of chance” taxation to help finance flood recovery, after a new economic, social and ecological emergency decree opened the door to temporary tax changes by executive order.

Colombia’s government has declared a 30-day state of economic, social and ecological emergency in eight northern departments—including Córdoba, Sucre and others—after unusually intense rains and flooding hit the region in what is typically a drier period of the year.

The emergency declaration (Decree 150 of 2026) empowers the executive to issue extraordinary, temporary legislative decrees, including creating new taxes or modifying existing ones strictly to address the crisis and prevent escalation. KPMG notes that any emergency tax measures could remain in force until the end of the 2027 fiscal year, depending on what is enacted.

Within that funding debate, Finance Minister Germán Ávila has publicly put “the possibility of an adjustment to taxes on games of chance” on the table as part of the package the government is still evaluating, alongside a proposed corporate wealth tax aimed at the country’s largest companies to cover damages the government has estimated at around COP 8 trillion.

For the gambling industry, the discussion revives a sensitive point from the earlier fiscal push: Petro’s administration had already tried to raise revenue via emergency decrees after a tax bill failed in Congress, including a 19% VAT on online games of chance calculated on gross gaming revenue (GGR)—but Colombia’s Constitutional Court ordered the government to pause that emergency package while it reviews the decree.

The key watch item now is what the government actually drafts under the new flood-linked emergency: whether it targets online betting, land-based gaming, or both, and how quickly measures could be implemented once signed. With enforcement and compliance timelines often tight under emergency powers, operators will be watching the first decree(s) for scope, taxable base, and effective dates.