The Congress of the Republic of Peru July 15 voted to legalize online gaming and sports betting. The vote was unanimous, 91 to 0.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) will be tasked with carrying out the new law. Gaming will be taxed at 12 percent of the operator’s tax base with a maintenance tax of 2 percent of monthly income. The tax will be collected by Sunat, the country’s tax body.
The tax structure is supported by the Peruvian Association of Online Sports Betting (APADELA).
Sports betting operators will be allowed to set up betting terminals in sportsbook rooms, but they will also be required to display warnings that “excessive online sports betting can cause pathological gambling.”
The president of the Economy Commission, Congresswoman Silvia Monteza Facho, noted that in the new law, “the discrimination of non-domiciled (online gaming and sports betting operators) is also eliminated so that they are taxed in the same way as those established in Peru.”
Of taxes raised, 40 percent will go to the Public Treasury, of which half will go to the Ministry of Health, which will direct mental health and gambling addiction treatment.
The law authorizes Mincetur to block websites, platforms and URLs of online gaming and sports betting operators that operate offshore without government licenses.
