At first glance Bulgaria’s sudden decision to revoke lottery licences and create a state-run monopoly appears financially motivated, however, given the criminal allegations against Vasil Bojkov there could be a far darker reason.
The Bulgarian online gambling market has been in shambles since Bulgaria's National Assembly amended the local Gambling Act in early February 2020. The amendments to the Gambling Act had a single clear objective, banning private lottery companies from operating in the region, effectively creating a State-run monopoly.
“Under the amendments, a licence to organize lotteries may be issued solely to the State, and the State-owned Bulgarian Sports Totalizator (BST) alone will be able to administrate lotteries”
The amendments did make any allowance for a transitional period, thereby forcing currently legal entities to cease all lottery-based operation in Bulgaria with immediate effect.
National Lottery AD and Kambi Part Ways
Leading Bulgarian gambling and scratch card operator, National Lottery AD, responded to the announcement by “voluntarily” handing its license over to the Gambling Commission and subsequently halting all unregulated gambling services on its website.
The result of this has been the recent announcement by Kambi that they will no longer be providing sports betting services to National Lottery AD as the only gambling avenues currently clearly available to operators in Bulgaria are “raffles, Bingo, Keno and their varieties”.
For the time being the cessation of live sports betting is temporary however should the Bulgarian government not clarify their stance on gambling and what is allowed outside of lotteries it could well become a permanent move.
At-Risk Players & Criminal Associations
Valeri Simeonov, MP of the United Patriots, noted that the reason the Gambling Commission took such decisive action was the recent “lottery craze that has gripped Bulgaria” which has seen more than 100 million scratch card being sold annually and has put “adolescents and socially disadvantaged people” at-risk.
One of the key amendments to the bill included raising the legal age of purchasing lottery tickets and scratch cards to 18 years old to help stem the surge of interest they have seen from underage players.
The Bulgarian News Agency reported that it came to light that gambling mogul, Vasil Bojkov, owner of National Lottery AD and its competitor Lottery Bulgaria had a very dark past with deep roots in organised crime.
The government has pressed charges against Bokjov which included money laundering, tax evasion, bribery, leading organised crime and even murder. Much of the Commission’s decision to bring lottery inhouse is attributed to the desire to separate Bojkov from his money and thereby limit his power base so that he can be brought to justice.
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