AI key to new Colombian gambling regulation tool

Colombia’s regulated online gaming operators have helped launch an artificial intelligence-led tool for monitoring illegal activity.

The Coljuegos Artificial Intelligence Center (CIAC) was sent live by the Colombian gambling regulator on Wednesday.

The tool will allow illegal online betting activity, as well as land-based tax revenues, to be monitored in real time.

Representatives from the 16 regulated online betting operators in Colombia attended the launch, with the tool also incorporating the activity of Colombia’s 3,656 land-based gaming establishments.

Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos, said the CIAC aims to “strengthen surveillance for localised games and combat the phenomenon of illegal betting websites.”

“With this tool, we will be able to increase our capacity to fight illegality on the internet. In the last year, we have already issued 5,112 blocking orders to unauthorised betting sites, and we hope to increase this number in the coming days,” he added.

The second phase of the CIAC, including real-time monitoring tools for online betting and land-based games, will be rolled out in the “coming months,” Hincapié said.

The dashboard’s illegal online activity monitoring function is supported by cybersecurity company Kiggu.

Social media profiles that operate illegal raffles and promote unauthorised betting sites is another key focus for the CIAC.

The tool also monitors Coljuegos’ technological infrastructure including operator portal, servers and document management.

The fourth focus of the CIAC is the monitoring of the procedures carried out by operators, with the aim of reducing response times for requests for new contracts and renewals.