Peru’s ISC shifts the online gambling debate from regulation to tax pressure

Once Peru had finished building the legal framework for online gambling and sports betting, the argument moved on to tax. Since 2025, the center of gravity has been the Impuesto Selectivo al Consumo (ISC), and for PSPs and operators the useful question is no longer “is it regulated?” but “what does the tax stack do to margins and pricing?”

1. The regulatory base was set by Law No. 31557, enacted in August 2022 and amended by Law No. 31806 in June 2023. It regulates remote gaming and online sports betting, requires operators to obtain authorization from Mincetur, and sets rules on player protection, identity verification, and anti-money laundering.
2. The law came into force on 9 February, and the submission of applications through the relevant system began on 13 February. That put Peru among the Latin American countries with a fully regulated sector, alongside Colombia, Argentina, and Panama.
3. The tax phase arrived later. On 13 September 2024, Legislative Decree No. 1644 added remote gaming and sports betting to the New Appendix IV of goods subject to ISC, under the “system at value” framework. From January 2025, both resident and non-resident companies became subject to a specific 12% tax on the taxable base established by law, plus an ISC applied to each bet. Sunat also enabled Virtual Form No. 0696 for filing, with different procedures depending on the taxpayer type.
4. The ISC rate itself changed quickly. Supreme Decree No. 008-2025-EF set an initial rate of 0.3% on each bet, valid until 30 June 2025. From 1 July, the rate increased to 1%, more than tripling the deduction applied to each wager.
5. The tax is calculated on the amount wagered, not on winnings. That detail matters because it is easy to miss in policy debates and much harder to ignore when you are pricing a product or modeling merchant economics.