Bulgaria raises minimum gambling self-exclusion period
Operators face fines if they fail to consult the self-exclusion system.
Bulgaria.- The Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA), which regulates the country’s gambling sector, has changed the rules for gambling self-exclusion in the country. It’s increased the minimum period for which gamblers can self exclude from 30 to 365 days.
The leap to a full year as the minimum period for self-exclusion is intended to provide greater player protection, but some fear that it may put some people off exclusion. Meanwhile, the process for self-exclusion remains fairly complex.
As detailed by NRA director of gambling activities Aleksandar Popov in the regulator’s video below, players must either send a request to the NRA by email or make a request in person at a kiosk. They need to include personal information and include an electronic signature, which can have a cost depending on the provider used.
The NRA says there are currently 54,000 active self-exclusion requests. People who receive welfare payments and people diagnosed with mental health conditions are automatically placed on the register.
All licensed gambling operators in Bulgaria are required to consult the national self-exclusion list and to refuse services to anyone on it. Operators that fail to do so could be fined BGN 5,000 (€2,500) for first-time offences and BGN 20,000 (€10,200) for a second breach. A third breach can result in licence revocation.
Other gambling reforms in Bulgaria have included tighter restrictions on gambling adverts. Meanwhile, the BSP, one of the three parties in Bulgaria’s new coalition government, has flagged the issue of illegal gambling as a priority issue. The former interior minister Rumen Petkov has suggested that the European Union needs a unified regulatory registry for gambling to allow national regulators to collaborate in the detection of unlicensed operators.
He said: “Europe has seen illegal online gambling dominate over the legal alternatives in recent years. This leads to two frightening outcomes. First, there’s an encroachment on the health, finances and well-being of entire generations and families. Second, it leads to a stream of uncontrolled funds, which is re-invested into political influencing, the production and trade of drugs and human trafficking. This is a scourge of modern society and Europe’s lack of commitment is frightening.”
