Ecuador sees 65 firms submit interest in 15% taxed betting market

Ecuador’s Internal Revenue Service (SRI) has confirmed that a total of 65 sports betting companies have agreed to pay the national 15% tax.

Revealed by SRI’s Director, Damián Larco, the applicants’ number consists of 63 regional and two foreign sports betting companies – with the sports betting registry introduced in July following the approval of the Law on Economic Efficiency and Job Generation. 

The rules established a 15% gross revenue tax for all operators – regardless of whether companies are based in Ecuador or offshore – together with a 15% levy on player winnings.

Experts also believe that the number of active sports betting providers is higher than the official 65 registrants, with Larco ensuring that SRI is actively supervising the market and stands ready to blacklist the IP addresses of any unlicensed operators in order to prevent tax evasion and money laundering. 

In general, Ecuador currently has a ruptured gambling landscape. A referendum dating back to 2011 gave former President Rafael Correa the power to eliminate gambling venues in the country. 

Land-based casinos, bookmakers and bingo halls have been banned ever since, with the ban’s opponents arguing that it has significantly hurt the tourism industry, which has been met with a drastically lower count of tourists compared to the 400,000 annual visitors prior to 2011. 

As it stands there is currently no explicit ban on online gaming, which has created a grey area in the sector.

Ecuador’s serving president Daniel Noboa tried to address this at the start of this year by submitting 11 questions to the Constitutional Court as part of a new national referendum. The last question asked for the public’s opinion on a fully regulated gambling sector. 

Unfortunately, the 20-day deadline that the court was given to produce the answers was cut short after drug kingpin Adolfo “Fito” Macías escaped from prison on 7 January and with that drove Ecuador into a civil war between authorities and drug cartels.

Noboa however has not taken the idea fully off the table yet, and the possibility to see a regulated brick-and-mortar market in Ecuador remains. 

There is currently no specific ban on sports betting.