Last night (25 May), the Commission of Economy, Central Bank, Ministry of Finance, Financial Intelligence Unit and the Congress of Peru approved the new rules that will establish the legal framework for gambling in the South American country.

The amended Law No. 31557 establishes a 12% point of consumption tax. The Peruvian sports betting association (APADELA) has criticised the previous version of the law for effectively exempting foreign operators from the gaming tariff by only taxing Net Win.

End of retail licences

The new law also ended the practice of retail licences. Under the new regulations, the government will ask points of sale to pay a warranty of Sol24,750 in order to offer gaming services.

The new rules also include mew Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Players will need to register to place bets, as opposed to the previous status quo where many bet anonymously.

Penalties for non-compliance range from fines, up to four years in jail for culpable individuals and licence suspension or cancellation.

Platforms will be able to offer games of chance on Peruvian URLs (bet.pe /.bet / .com.pe/ .pe).

Once the technical regulations have been approved, the new rules will enter into effect after 120 days.

Public consultation on Peru gaming law

The shakeup of the regulations came about following a public consultation, which catalogued the views of a number of interested parties regarding how to best approach the regulation of the gambling industry.

On 19 May, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) published the results of the consultation. The process – which ran from 11 November to 2 December – collected 772 contributions from public and private stakeholders.

These included the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit, igaming and sports betting operators, suppliers and individuals.

Law No. 31,557

In August 2022, the Peruvian president Pedro Castillo signed the initial Law No. 31,557, which regulated the country’s gambling industry.

Among other measures, the law put the industry under the supervision of Mincetur, established rules for suppliers active in the market and issued directions for where money raised through gaming taxes should be sent.