Bulgarian regulator adds more gambling sites to blacklist

The National Revenue Agency says it has blocked 600 unlicensed gambling sites. 

Bulgaria.- The National Revenue Agency (NRA), which is responsible for regulating gambling in Bulgaria, says it blocked more than 600 online gambling sites in the last three months of 2023. It said the sites, including 22bet, Leon Casino and Luckyhit, were operating without a valid licence.

The NRA said the websites were found to allow the creation of accounts and accepted gambling with various payment methods. The NRA gives operators three days to stop their activity, after which it can seek a Magistrates Court order instructing internet providers to block access to the sites.

The latest update comes after the NRA announced that it had blocked access to over 150 gambling websites last September. On that occasion, the tax regulator, which took over gambling regulation in 2020, did not name the sites that have been blocked but said that the majority were not licensed in the European Union.

Meanwhile, the NRA has reported that over 24,000 people have registered with the national gambling self-exclusion scheme after it was relaunched in December of 2022. The system had been halted amid regulatory changes. Access to the register is limited to certain employees, but gambling operators can request access to monitor their customer base and identify players who have self-excluded. Anyone can sign up to the register for a minimum of two years either at an NRA office or online.