Bulgaria's Government Proposes a "Practically Full" Gambling Advertising Ban and Higher Online Tax

Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Wednesday that draft amendments to the Gambling Act would leave sports sponsorship as the only permitted form of gambling advertising, raise the levy on online gambling substantially and connect every gaming machine to the tax authority in real time. The texts go to public consultation first.

• Bulgaria's government published draft amendments to the Gambling Act for public consultation on 23 September, which Prime Minister Rumen Radev said would introduce "a practically full ban on gambling advertising", according to the Council of Ministers
• The only exception kept, Radev said, is advertising on sports kit and sports facilities; bright illuminated signs on casino and gaming hall frontages would also be banned
• The government proposes a "substantial increase" in the levy on online gambling, with part of the revenue directed to sport and education, and wants foreign licensees to register their financial activity in Bulgaria
• All gaming equipment would have to connect to the National Revenue Agency in real time, and land-based taxation would be based on actual financial results rather than fixed amounts per machine or table
• The Gambling Act currently charges online licensees 20% of stakes less winnings; no proposed rate was given in the government's statement

"We Don't Want Gambling in the Everyday Life of Bulgarian Citizens"

Radev announced the proposals at the start of Wednesday's Council of Ministers meeting. "Today we are publishing for public consultation changes to the Gambling Act that introduce a new, much stricter model for regulating and controlling the sector," he said, according to the government's statement. "The aim is more transparency, fairer taxation and, above all, limiting gambling addiction. The first big change is in advertising. We are introducing a practically full ban on gambling advertising. We don't want gambling to be present in the everyday life of Bulgarian citizens. We don't want aggressive advertising that reaches young people and children."

The only exception, according to the statement, is support for sport through advertising on sports kit and facilities. The draft would also ban bright illuminated advertising and signage in the windows of casinos and gaming halls, which Radev described as intrusive and as changing the look of towns. Bulgaria's Gambling Act already restricts advertising, including a ban on broadcast gambling advertising outside narrow exceptions; the new texts would extend that to the outdoor, print and online channels still in use.

Tax, Real-Time Reporting and Foreign Operators

The government also proposes to change how gambling is taxed. Land-based casinos and gaming halls would be assessed on the real financial result of their activity, with stronger controls against money laundering and tax evasion, and all gaming equipment would have to connect to the National Revenue Agency (NRA) in real time. "Something that should have been done long ago," Radev said. The statement says the levy on online gambling will rise substantially, with mechanisms to direct part of the revenue to sport and education, but gives no rate.

Foreign operators holding a Bulgarian licence would have to register their financial activity in the country when they earn revenue there. "Whoever operates on the Bulgarian market and profits from it will report here, pay taxes here and be subject to full control by the Bulgarian state," Radev said. The same meeting proposed making certain customs violations criminal offences.

The current online charge is set by Article 30(4) of the Gambling Act: a one-off fee of BGN 400,000 and 20% of the difference between stakes received and winnings paid, according to the consolidated text published by the NRA. Some trade reports have put the current rate at 25%; iGaming Times could not match that figure to the published Act.

A Near-Total Ban With a Sports Carve-Out Is the Model Belgium and Italy Chose

Keeping sponsorship while banning almost everything else puts Bulgaria between Italy, which banned gambling advertising and sponsorship under its 2018 Dignity Decree, and Belgium, which bans most advertising and is phasing out sports sponsorship. The carve-out will matter to Bulgarian football and to the operators whose logos fund it, and it is where lobbying during consultation is likely to concentrate. The opposition parties We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria have already argued for a stricter regime, according to SBC News, which also reported that an MP from Radev's own party had suggested days earlier that the measures would be less than a full ban.

Higher Online Tax Plus Mandatory Local Reporting Tests Channelisation

Raising the online levy while tightening advertising and reporting shifts cost onto the licensed market at the same time as it limits how licensed operators can reach players. Bulgaria hoped euro adoption would weaken its black market; a higher tax on licensed online play works in the opposite direction unless blocking and payment controls keep pace. The proposed rate, when the texts appear, will decide which effect dominates.

The consultation texts will settle the details the Prime Minister did not give. The direction, towards a much narrower and more heavily taxed licensed market, is already clear.