With the first mandate of Bulgaria’s newly elected coalition government having to take on the challenges left by years of political instability, one priority has taken centre stage on the agenda — the fight against illegal gambling.
A period of stalemate followed the 2024 general election when the biggest parties failed to secure the needed majority to create a single government, forcing them to enter months of discussions to form a coalition.
Just recently, the governing mandate was granted to a coalition between the GERB, BSP and ITN parties.
With each party holding a press conference to brief the electorate on what to expect moving forward, BSP used the opportunity to address illegal gambling as a pressing issue for the country and the whole of Europe, promising more focused government efforts to combat unlicensed providers.
Rumen Petkov, BSP coalition member and former Interior Minister, criticising the EU for the lack of a unified regulatory registry to collectively flag down illegal gambling actors, which he said “creates the prerequisite for the development of illegal online gambling on the territory of the entire continent.”
“Europe has seen illegal online gambling dominating over the legal alternatives in recent years. This leads to two scary outcomes.
“First, there’s an encroachment on the health, finances and well-being of entire generations and entire families. Second – it leads to an uncontrolled stream of funds, which is then re-invested into political influencing, production and trade of drugs, and human trafficking.
“This is a scourge for modern society and Europe’s lack of commitment is frightening.”
Bulgaria is also no exception, with Petkov stating that illegal online gambling cannot be effectively limited and prevented from targeting the most vulnerable groups in the country — namely minors and adolescents.
To better get his point across, he cited data from Bulgaria’s National Gambling Regulator (NRA), where it was said that there are currently 25 licensed gambling providers and 46 issued igaming licences – compared to the 5,174 illegal igaming websites identified by authorities.
“I’m not sure whether we realise to what extent illegal gambling dominates the online space compared to the gambling regulated by the state and is subjected to state regulations.”
Journalists were then informed that only in 2024, the list of illegal providers increased by 3,007 websites.
“This shows that after the measures taken by the state to limit the advertising of licensed operators, we’ve practically seen a doubling in illegal online gambling,” Petkov added.
Bulgaria adopted a new framework around gambling last year. This introduced significant changes as to how operators can advertise their products, with the goal of reducing problem gambling rates.
Additionally, Rumen Spetsov, Director General of the NRA, revealed that the regulator is constantly improving its use of technology and maintains frequent discussions with law enforcement to ensure black market operators are kept away from customers.
During the BSP press conference, 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”.
To conclude, Petkov revealed that BSP has already raised the issue with the Ministry of Interior and the Deputy Prime Minister, calling for effective measures by deepening the dialogue with all relevant licensed gambling associations in Bulgaria, as well as organising more nation-wide educational campaigns on harm prevention.
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