bet365 takes Bulgaria to court

The British gaming operator is appealing the Bulgarian national gambling regulator’s restriction to operate in the country.

Bulgaria.- bet365 is determined to take Bulgaria’s State Commission on Gambling (SCG) to court, with the purpose of appealing its restriction to operate in the European country.

It has transpired that bet365’s appeal against the SCG was heard yesterday by the Administrative Court of Sofia, with a further hearing scheduled for 5 May. The British operator has confirmed it started a legal challenge to overturn the Bulgarian issuance of licenses but did not comment further.

With this hearing, bet365 adds a further Eastern European legal challenge to its existing Romanian license appeal. Last year the company was revoked of its interim license by Romania’s gambling commission despite paying back its requested back taxes.

Regarding Bulgaria’s challenge, back in August, SCG governance granted bet365 an online betting license, but rescinded its decision before official certificates could be awarded. On withdrawing the gaming company’s license, SCG stated that it had found bet365 to have violated several provisions connected to Bulgarian gambling laws.

To date SCG has only permitted a total of fifteen online gambling licenses. The commission’s restrictive online gambling framework has been criticised by numerous gaming companies, which claim that business conditions have been made to favour national operators.