The gambling landscape in Balkan powerhouse Bulgaria is drastically shifting with the enactment of new laws in the country. New amendments to the country’s gambling law received the backing of President Rumen Radev and touched on various prohibitions on advertisements across different media. The changes came into effect on May 17th, after the President decided against vetoing the plan, ushering in a new era of industry restrictions.

Bulgaria’s initiative to introduce these measures emanated from political parties GERB and DPS. More specifically, the members of parliament who introduced the bill were Yordan Tsonex of DPS and Temenuzka Petkova of GERB. The bill’s passage process has been seamless since its first reading in the budget committee and subsequent approval in the plenary session. There had been earlier efforts by the Revival Party to ban ads in gambling, but they bore no as the party failed to amass the needed votes to push it through.

Gambling advertising has been a pertinent and divisive topic in the Bulgarian national landscape. These ads particularly became prevalent in 2015 when the country’s most renowned gambling mogul, Vasil Bozkhov, and his private lotteries became the biggest advertisers in the Bulgarian media. That said, it has been challenging for Bozkhov after hitting record numbers of gambling ads in 2015. Since then, the nation’s parliament shut down most of his businesses, which was followed by slapping him with a US sanction on allegations of corruption.

The ripple effect of closing down Bozkhov’s business was that smaller gambling units arose and came with different gambling ad strategies. This business was so prevalent that in three years, gambling ads became the largest source of revenue for Bulgarian media. In 2023, for instance, it was estimated that gambling operators within the Bulgarian landscape spent roughly €85 million on advertising. The highest spenders included local Bulgarian companies Efbet, Winbet, and Greece’s Betano. The massive influx of gambling ads in the country’s media advertising scene was particularly felt during the 2022 Fifa World Cup held in Qatar.

The Ins and Outs of Bulgaria’s Gambling Advertising Ban

On April 30th, the Bulgarian parliament unanimously approved legislation that would exclusively prevent all forms of advertising for gambling across nearly all forms of media in the country. The different forms of media included newspapers, websites, television, and radio, just to mention a few. All the 198 members of parliament present in the chambers on April 30th voted in favor of enforcing this ban. The legislation, now in effect, only permits gambling advertising on billboards, social media, and at sports facilities unrelated to children.

Nonetheless, even with these few exceptions of media where gambling ads can be aired, there are some additional restrictions placed to ensure the protection of vulnerable populations that can be affected by gambling. For instance, a distance limit of 300 meters has been placed for all billboards situated near schools. Furthermore, all the ads in the media will have to include a prominent safer gambling warning that occupies at least 10 percent of the advertising space. This warning must point out the adverse effects that gambling may have on players.

Meanwhile, the advertising ban does not apply to Bulgaria’s State Lottery. That said, the State Lottery is required to distribute its profits to local sports and cover healthcare expenditures related to problem gambling-related issues.

The Council for Electronic Media, Bulgaria’s media watchdog, will oversee the enforcement of these amendments. Should operators contravene these restrictions, the council must notify the country’s gambling regulator, the National Revenue Agency (NRA), which will then institute the necessary penalties.

Concerns Arise On the Law’s Impact on Media Independence

As expected, there have been widespread concerns about the impact of the ban and its potential ramifications for the Bulgarian media landscape. The primary concern, of course, originates from the media companies whose principal source of revenue was gambling revenue over the last couple of years. The Association of Bulgarian Broadcasters (ABRO) issued a statement on this raging debate, warning that:

A ban on advertising in the media is a ban on provision of media service within the meaning of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

The association also noted that the financial sustainability of the media was a vital element that needed to be maintained. Thus, removing gambling ads, the lifeblood of the media’s income-generating structure could lead to unwanted consequences.

Many commercial broadcasters also anticipate a considerable ripple effect on their operations since most of their work depends on the revenue they generate from gambling ads. As such, there is a concern that live sports broadcasters will be unable to air sporting events. The broadcast of this summer’s Euro 2024 soccer championship could be the first casualty, seeing that many broadcasters had planned their activities based on revenue projections that now seem unlikely.

The Bulgarian Gambling Association has also voiced its concerns about the advertising ban, arguing that it could lead to a re-emergence of unregulated illegal gambling sites. So, given that these sites would be operating in an unregulated environment, they wouldn’t be conducting business within industry standards set to protect players against exploitation. This could also impact the government negatively as the Balkan state may end up losing a ton of taxes and fees to unregulated gambling activity.

Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov added to the growing list of people against this new set of laws. Mr. Denkov stated that the ban poses a direct threat to broadcasters and other media affected by the newly introduced restrictive measures. According to the former Prime Minister, the harsh regulations are forcing out a notable source of income from the control of Bulgaria’s media outlets, compromising the said entities’ independence. 

New Gambling Rules in Effect

Besides the advertising restrictions, Bulgaria has also ratified new laws that affect the nation’s wider gambling expanse. The new regulations have prohibited slots and casino gambling in areas with fewer than 10,000 people. Be that as it may, national resorts and border areas have been exempted from this rule.

Further, the minimum capital that is required for companies that apply for slot machine licenses has moved from BGN500,000 (~$277,000) to BGN 750,000 (~$415,000). A social responsibility fee for gambling has also been introduced, and it will go at BGN100,000 (~$55,000). Half the social responsibility fee will be directed towards the Ministry of Health to fund programs to help Bulgarian nationals affected by gambling. Of note is also the fact that Bulgarian gamblers will no longer be able to leave the national gambling self-exclusion register after joining the program.