The budget committee in parliament has backed three bills to change the Gambling Act that ban gambling advertising. The budget and finance committee voted 21-0 in favour.
A working group will refine the wording. MPs agree that a ban on online advertising will be hard to enforce, so the texts must change to limit such ads as far as possible. The group will look at all proposals. Konstantin Prodanov, who chairs the committee, wants the changes passed before the 2027 state budget law.
Under the bill tabled by the Council of Ministers, gambling games, their organisers and their distinctive marks cannot be advertised at all. The bill also changes how the gambling business is taxed and charged fees, and it ends the work of affiliate operators. One exception is a limited presence of organisers' brands when they sponsor sports clubs, federations, associations and organisations, or support culture, health care and education.
The government text also bans cash payments between construction firms, contractors and subcontractors under contracts for construction, supply of materials and services. Payments between them will go only through banks or other traceable electronic payment tools. The aim is a smaller grey economy, better financial discipline and a level playing field for construction firms.
The other two bills were tabled by Venko Sabrutev and a group of MPs from We Continue the Change, and by Bozhidar Bozhanov and a group of MPs from Democratic Bulgaria. Each sets out its own way to ban advertising of both online and land-based gambling completely.
Lyudmila Petkova, deputy finance minister, proposed dropping the ban on affiliate operators. Under her proposal, online gambling ads would be allowed only through them and with clear limits. If ads are banned and the operators disappear, illegal operators will start advertising, she warned. Petkova said affiliate operators hold a licence, are subject to checks, and by their licence agree not to work with illegal operators. The finance ministry promised to put all proposals from the meeting into the bill.
Talks also continued on the 2024 rules that require gaming halls to stay a minimum distance from playgrounds, kindergartens, schools and other public buildings. Under them, 187 halls in places with fewer than 10,000 people must close, and 318 halls do not meet the distance rule.
The National Revenue Agency (NAP) will have to repay a total of €17m to the operators of halls whose licences end early. 23,800 people will lose their jobs, and the agency estimates the budget will lose €104m in taxes and social contributions on their pay. The licences of the affected halls run for 5 and 10 years and expire in 2029 and 2034 respectively.
Petkova said there is no set procedure for halls to prove they keep the required distance, so the law needs changes. It sets a minimum distance from playgrounds but does not say what a playground is. The proposed definition is an area of at least 50 sq m, with a special surface and permanently fixed equipment, set aside for the purpose with a permit from a state or municipal body.
Lawyer Kiril Gruychev of the Association of Gambling Organisers in Bulgaria pointed to a problem with the 2024 rules: the deadline is running out, while operators have paid for licences that are still valid. Advertising brings in customers, but it also helps people recognise licensed operators, he said.
A fee of 20% is proposed for land-based operators on the difference between stakes received and winnings paid out. Rosalina Yordanova of the Bulgarian Gaming Association thinks this rate suits online gambling, but should be lower for land-based gambling because costs there are much higher. In practice there is no illegal land-based gambling in Bulgaria, the problem is with online platforms, she added. Petkova noted that in other EU countries the tax is progressive, based on profit, turnover or another measure, and a similar approach could be discussed in Bulgaria.
Boyan Mitrakiev of KRIB, a business group, thinks gambling advertising should be regulated, but national laws cannot regulate people outside Bulgaria. Lawmakers can write anything into law, the question is what effect it will have, he said. According to Mitrakiev, the fourth-largest online gambling operator in Bulgaria is a Russian platform that works illegally. The chief executive of a digital media group warned that if the ban passes in its current form, Bulgaria will have to block YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.
Psychologist Desislava Bezinska-Sheinkova, who works with people addicted to gambling, asked that gambling ads not be allowed on children's sports kits. "Why should children be a banner for anything?" she asked. She cited data showing that the ability to work among people with an addiction is cut by about 9%, and that 17% of them die from it.
The psychologist said 12-year-old children with an addiction gamble online through other people's accounts, and gambling is streamed live online for hours at a time. For the industry these are figures, but behind them are human lives, and addiction can lead to people taking their own life or someone else's, she said.
Asen Vasilev of We Continue the Change thinks a ban on online advertising can work only at EU level. He said the government should start talks in the EU and seek support from other countries. Martin Dimitrov of Democratic Bulgaria takes a similar view and wants Bulgarian MEPs to join the talks. Ayten Sabri of the DPS proposed taking the initiative to the European Parliament, with prevention as the main aim of the law.
Desislava Taneva of GERB-SDS backed the working group and proposed that the rules also cover the behaviour of players. She pointed to the Netherlands, where limits on deposits and losses have given good results.
Stefan Belchev of Progressive Bulgaria called aggressive online gambling advertising a big problem for families and the future of the nation. MPs had a historic duty to end "this pandemic", he said. Belchev said no national law can stop 100% of advertising banners. But that is no excuse, he added. Between first and second reading, he asked for the best solution to be found from the three bills. Prodanov, who is from the same party, takes a similar view and proposed that the working group start as early as tomorrow, even informally.
Toncho Ganev of Revival called the bills a step in the right direction, but said the ruling parties speak of a full ban while there are many exceptions. In his view, advertising is one of the things that create addiction. "The huge minus of all three bills is what they do not tackle: gambling addiction. That is the tumour," Ganev said.