Bulgarian government calls for unified European registry for online gambling
Coalition member Rumen Petkov says a central register would allow regulators to collaborate against unlicensed gambling.
Bulgaria.- The BSP, one of the three parties in Bulgaria’s new coalition government, has flagged the issue of illegal gambling as a priority for the new administration. The BSP, which formed a coalition government with the GERB and ITN last month after elections in October, says it will push for more measures against unlicensed providers.
In a press conference, the former interior minister Rumen Petkov suggested that the European Union needs a unified regulatory registry to allow national gambling 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.”
Petkov said Bulgaria was not immune to this. He said that according to the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency, which regulates gambling, there are currently 25 licensed gambling providers with 46 online gambling sites in the country. That compares to 5,174 illegal igaming websites that have been identified. He said that in 2024, Bulgaria’s igaming blacklist increased by 3,007 websites.
“I’m not sure whether we realise to what extent illegal gambling dominates the online space compared to the gambling that’s regulated by the state and subjected to state regulations,” he said. He also suggested that restrictions against the promotion of licensed offerings could be partly to blame, saying: “following the measures taken by the state to limit the advertising of licensed operators, we’ve practically seen illegal online gambling double.”
Petkov emphasised that the biggest threat of illegal gambling “is not the hit to the state’s budget, but the damage being done to the youth and other vulnerable groups”. He said the BSP has raised the issue with the Ministry of Interior and the deputy prime minister and has proposed dialogue with industry associations alongside nationwide educational campaigns on gambling harm prevention.
In October, the National Revenue Agency added 52 more sites to Bulgaria’s blacklist of unlicensed online gambling operators. The regulator noted that some of the sites had .am (Armenia) and .kz (Kazakhstan) domains. However, the regulator found there were no measures in place to prevent Bulgarian players from opening accounts and making deposits and withdrawals. Rumen Spetsov, director general of the NRA, says the regulator is improving its use of technology and is working with law enforcement to tackle unlicensed operators.
In June, the Association of Gaming Industry in Bulgaria (AGIB) reported that regulated operators paid out BNG 5.79bn (€2.96bn) in winnings of over BNG 5,000 in 2023, a rise of 147 per cent year-on-year. However, a ban on gambling ads on television, radio, print and online came into force in Bulgaria last May despite opposition from operators and media.
The gambling adverts that remain permissible are billboards located more than 100 metres from schools and ads on the buildings of gaming halls and casinos themselves. They must feature responsible gambling messaging covering at least 10 per cent of the space.
