On December 23, 2024, certain reforms to the Regulation for the Application of the Internal Tax Regime Law related to the Unique Income Tax regime for sports betting operators were published in the Second Supplement of the Official Register No. 709. The main changes include:

License for Operating Sports Betting (LOPD)
Starting in 2025, a license will be required to operate, which constitutes the enabling title to conduct sports betting activities in the country, and it will be valid for 5 years.
Obtaining and maintaining the license involves an annual payment equivalent to 655 basic salaries; for example, for the year 2025, the payment will be USD 307,850 (655 x USD 470).
The requirements for obtaining and maintaining the license will be established by the governing body of sports.
Failure to comply with the payment within the first 20 days of each year will be subject to sanctions and other restrictive measures, such as blocking the IP addresses used for the activity. Furthermore, it is considered that operators will not be able to continue conducting their sports betting activities.

Billing
The new regulation allows operators to issue a single invoice that consolidates all amounts delivered by the player that constitute income for the operator. The sales receipt must be issued by the fifth working day of the following month.

New Definitions

• Bonuses: Credits granted by operators to players for making sports bets that will be available to the player once they meet the operator's conditions (released bonus).
• Prizes: Amounts that the player is entitled to when the predicted event is verified. This includes the released bonus. For the player, it will be considered a prize when the monthly comparison result between the amounts delivered by the player in accrued bets and the amounts received for wins is positive.
• Net income from a match or event on which the operator pays the tax: The income obtained from accrued bets made by players in an event or match minus the prizes to which the players are entitled.
• Player's profit: The net benefit that a player obtains by successfully predicting a sports event. It is the amount received by the player (prize and accrued bet) minus the accrued bet.

Withholding Tax on Prizes
Sports betting operators will withhold 15% on the consolidated amount of prizes obtained by the player in a monthly period or when the player withdraws their prizes, whichever occurs first.

Taxpayers
Natural persons and entities are subject to the Unique Income Tax for sports betting operators, even if they are established as non-profit organizations, except for the Charity Board of Guayaquil and the Fe y Alegría Foundation.

Transitional Provisions
Sports betting operators will have a period of 3 months to adapt their systems and implement the necessary mechanisms to comply with the current regulations.
The governing body of sports will issue the corresponding secondary regulations within 3 months.

The translation to English is: "If you would like to know more information about the content, do not hesitate to contact us at unidadtributaria@robalinolaw.com.