Gambling in Bulgaria: more operators added to blacklist
The National Revenue Agency has announced blocks against 52 more online gambling sites.
Bulgaria.- The National Revenue Agency (NRA), which regulates gambling in Bulgaria, has added 52 more sites to the country’s blacklist of unlicensed online gambling operators. Director general Roumen Spetsov said the regulator’s Electronic Audit of Systems of Gambling Operators unit had found the sites to be targeting Bulgarian users without an active local licence.
The regulator noted that some of the sites had .am (Armenia) and .kz (Kazakhstan) domains. However, the regulator found that there were no measures in place to prevent Bulgarian players from opening accounts and making deposits and withdrawals.
The NRA said it will lodge legal complaints at the Bulgarian High Court and issue orders to internet service providers to block access to the sites if they do not block Bulgarian players.
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. That’s a rise of 147 per cent year-on-year. That’s according to the National Revenue Agency (NRA), which regulates gambling in the country.
Operators must report all winnings of over BNG 5,000. Smaller payouts are not recorded by the NRA. The BNG 5.79bn in winnings recorded was paid out among 120,853 players, up from 52,852 players the year before. In 2023, the average win was up by 8.2 per cent at BNG 47,909.
However, a ban on gambling ads on television, radio, in print and online came into force in Bulgaria in May following publication in the State Gazette and sign-off by president Rumen Radev. Legislators voted in favour of the gambling ad ban 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. Breaches of the ban will be punishable with fines of up to BGN50,000 (€25,570), with the risk of licence withdrawal for repeat offenders. Television broadcasts of national sports tote draws are exempt from the rules.
