The measure was made possible by a state of emergency declared last month by President Gustavo Petro in response to the displacement of more than 50,000 people in the Catatumbo region near the Venezuelan border.

The finance ministry in Bogota issued a decree Friday ordering a 19-percent tax on "games of chance and luck operated exclusively online within the national territory or from abroad."

The tax will take effect next week and remain effective all year.

The government also announced a one-percent tax on coal and hydrocarbon extraction and some exports, as well as on notarial transactions.

The measures should raise about $242 million, which would go toward addressing "the public order situation in the Catatumbo region" and nearby municipalities, the ministry said.

Colombia is struggling to contain violence in the mountainous region, where members of the 5,800-strong National Liberation Army (ELN) have targeted rival armed groups and civilians alleged to be their sympathizers.

About 50 people have been killed since fighting started mid-January.

The ELN is trying to assert control over an area that is home to plantations and routes used by traffickers who provide much of the world's cocaine.

Opposition politicians claim Petro is using emergency powers to push through elements of a tax reform package rejected by Congress last year.