The Board of Directors of Coljuegos issued Agreement 07 of 2024, through which the regulations for Keno were set out. With the operation of Keno game, approximately COL$485 million (US$120 million) is expected to be transferred for health purposes over the next five years.
“Keno is an ancient Chinese game that has been operating illegally in Colombia. However, with the issuance of this regulation, these resources will now enter the State to finance the subsidized health regime,” said Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos.
Coljuegos said that it was working on the preparation of the documents that are part of the pre-contractual stage to open a public bidding process to select the future operators of the game in the country.
“To ensure transparency in the process and the plurality of bidders, the Coljuegos board of directors has left open the possibility of there being one or multiple Keno operators in one or several regions of the national territory. We hope that, in the coming months, this game can already be offered to players,” Hincapié said.
According to projections, Keno is expected to achieve sales exceeding COL$2.8 billion (US$670 million), over the next five years. Additionally, from the total sales, operators will pay Coljuegos between 15% and 17% for exploitation rights, plus 1% for administration expenses.
Furthermore, players will be able to purchase tickets through physical points or digital sales channels.
“This will be the first game in Latin America to utilize blockchain technology in the issuance of tickets. With this, we can guarantee that all transactions and bets are verifiable and traceable, eliminating concerns about manipulation of identification codes and transactions during the processing of bets,” Hincapié stated.