Colombia’s national online gambling regulator issued its second license to local firm Corredor Empresarial SA on Monday with the operator now authorized to offer sportsbetting alongside video slots and games of chance such as roulette via its domain at Betplay.co.

Corredor Empresarial SA is the umbrella group behind the nation’s 32 provincial lottery and games of chance operators and the five-year license from the Coljuegos authority is expected to bring in tax revenues of approximately $1.1 billion, which are to be used to increase “resources for the health of Colombians”.

October saw Colombia become the first South American nation to legalize online gambling and Coljuegos stated at the time that it hoped the first year of licensing would raise some $2.6 million for education and health care projects. It bestowed its inaugural authorization to Medellin-based electronic gaming machine operator Aquila Global Group for the firm’s website at Wplay.co in June and declared earlier this week that it hoped to announce further licenses “in the next few days”.

“With this initiative we seek greater resources for the health of Colombians, expanding the portfolio of games through innovative tools and synchronizing with the trend towards greater use of new technologies in the world,” read a translated statement from Juan Perez Hidalgo (pictured), President for Coljuegos. “We want more operators to obtain the authorization of Coljuegos so as to achieve a strong sector and in tune with the new technologies.”

The online gambling news portal at Calvin Ayre reported that Corredor Empresarial SA manages some 25,000 retail gambling locations across Colombia and prepared for its latest venture by inking agreements with several online gaming technology providers including Kambi Sports Solutions and R Franco Digital in June.