Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Roumen Radev has announced a sweeping new package of gambling reforms intended to build on changes introduced in 2024.
Speaking at a recent Council of Ministers meeting, Radev informed media that reform texts would be published on 23 September, outlining what he described as a “practically full ban of gambling promotions.”
The announcement created immediate tension with a statement made days earlier by MP Stefan Belchev, a member of Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party and Chair of the Economic Policy Committee.
Belchev reportedly told Bulgarian National Television that the measures being drafted were more likely to bring further advertising restrictions rather than introduce a blanket ban on gambling promotions.
The exact scope of the restrictions will only become clear once the texts are formally published and opened for public consultation, leaving the industry and opposition parties closely watching developments.
Radev was quoted by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency as saying: “We want to introduce a new, far stricter model for regulatory control over the sector.”
He added that “the goal is more transparency, fairer taxation and most importantly, minimisation of gambling harm,” signalling the government’s intention to take a harder line against the industry.
Opposition parties from We Continue the Change and Yes Bulgaria have pushed for even tougher measures, including a full ban on outdoor gambling advertising and penalties of up to €150,000 for compliance failures.
Yes Bulgaria MP Bozhidar Bozhanov argued that the Gambling Act changes introduced in 2024 had not achieved the desired results and were constantly being circumvented through loopholes exploited by operators.
The opposition’s proposed texts would also heavily restrict online advertisements, and notably target infotainment websites owned by gambling operators, which have become a common workaround in countries like Italy and Belgium where advertising is already tightly regulated.
Such websites, which blur the line between editorial content and promotional material, are explicitly identified in Yes Bulgaria’s proposal as a mechanism used to circumvent existing legal frameworks.
The Bulgarian reforms come at a time when regulatory pressure on gambling operators is intensifying across Europe, with governments seeking greater accountability, tighter advertising controls, and stronger consumer protections across both online and land-based sectors.
