The Ministry of Finance Proposes Restrictions on Gambling Advertising and Bonus Schemes
By journalist Tsvetelina Sokolova, under the project “Digital Democracies vs. Digital Dictatorships” (ACF/970) by the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, funded by the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria under the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014–2021.
Advertising of gambling should be further restricted by prohibiting the announcement of bonuses and prizes, proposes Finance Minister Rossitsa Velkova with prepared amendments to the Gambling Act. Provisions are also being introduced to prevent tax avoidance through bonus schemes in online betting.
This is clear from the published changes to tax laws that will accompany the submission of the 2023 budget by the caretaker government.
It is also proposed to limit cash payments to a maximum of BGN 5,000 instead of the current BGN 10,000. A similar measure was proposed several times in the past during the GERB administration, but it never passed through parliament.
New Restrictions in Gambling
“It is prohibited to announce the amount of winnings from gambling and bonuses, as well as participants in gambling who have won prizes,” reads the draft amendments that will be proposed at the next National Assembly. In addition, gambling companies must develop “protective measures for time and/or financial restrictions” for participation in online games, with the minimum requirements for such measures to be described in a regulation.
The definition of a bet is clarified to include additional bonus games provided, including the full or partial playing of bonus funds and/or free bets provided. Certain bonuses are also given.
The aim is to curb new schemes for tax avoidance in online betting, which, according to former sports minister Radoslav Vasilev, have cost the budget BGN 300-400 million over the last 5-6 years.
Petition Demands a Total Ban on Gambling Advertising
Civil society organizations have long opposed gambling ads, calling for a complete ban.
“Children are gambling in online casinos. Children wear jerseys branded with gambling companies. Children are left homeless because their homes were gambled away…” These shocking claims are part of a petition to ban gambling advertisement launched last year by the National Network for Children, which brings together over 120 organizations working with and for children and families, as well as the Parents Association. The petition, which has garnered over 7,100 signatures, also calls for raising the legal gambling age to 21, arguing that this is a values-based issue with no moral ambiguity.
At least that is how Maria Brestnichka, who has been part of the secretariat of the National Network for Children since 2009, sees the situation. The issue of gambling advertising was chosen as the focus of a special discussion by the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) as a focal point around which the majority of citizens can unite, unlike many other issues on which “society is deeply divided and the gaps are insurmountable.” The center chose an unconventional approach to present its in-depth study of the values of Bulgarian society (“On the expanded ontology of values, or why democracy in our country is only in beer”), bringing to the fore a topical but powerful issue.
Non-governmental organizations believe that gambling advertising should be completely banned. Photo: Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law
The idea is that gambling advertising is not just another business issue, but says a lot about the values and civility of society.
“The issue of banning gambling advertising is indisputable. Our point of view may seem biased because children make up 15% of Bulgaria’s population, but they are 100% of the future,” said Brestnichka during the discussion in Sofia. She asked, “Why aren’t we very angry about this issue? Why aren’t we more vocal about it? This is not a matter of internal conflict because we are talking about a business that causes human suffering,” said the children’s rights activist.
Psychologists say the link between gambling advertising and gambling addiction has been proven. “What happened during the World Cup? A child saw dozens of gambling ads a day. In the morning, while eating breakfast, he saw the ad on TV. On the way to school, they passed by a casino, in the school – their older friends were betting on their phones. The child went to the gym and wore a T-shirt with the logo of a betting company, came home and saw dozens of advertisements with the same famous faces,” civil society organizations are angry.
Miroslav Tsekov, chairman of the National Youth Forum, is concerned that gambling accounts for an excessive share of Bulgaria’s GDP. “What will happen to economic growth if we remove revenues from businesses such as gambling and arms manufacturing?” asks the activist. For him, the question of how we want to make money in Bulgaria is definitely a question of values.
Three Industries Benefit from Gambling Ads
According to civil society organizations, three sectors have an interest in the boom in gambling advertising: the gambling industry itself, some of the sports clubs it sponsors, and the media, mainly television stations, whose revenue from this source last year was close to BGN 200 million (gross advertising investment).
The main argument in favor of gambling advertising is that it enables the public to recognize legal operators and thus encourages those gambling companies that pay taxes and practice responsible gambling. But elegant brand advertising is one thing, and the endless gambling show on Bulgarian TV from morning to night before New Year’s Eve is quite another.
Miroslav Tsekov explains that he cannot sympathize with football and other sports clubs, which in January complained about what a tragedy a complete ban on gambling advertising would be for them.
At the beginning of the year, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) took a strong stance against the idea, which it described as “yet another attempt to gain political dividends and a potentially catastrophic blow to football and sport in the country as a whole.” “Throughout the civilized world and in our country, licensed bookmakers support clubs, federations, and competitions, with even the biggest leagues and teams worldwide advertising such brands and investing the revenue from them in the development of sport,” said the BFU. According to the union, more than two-thirds of clubs in Bulgaria exist precisely because of funding from betting companies, and the possible interruption of this source of funding would mean almost certain bankruptcy for most of them.
However, associations promoting policies for children and young people do not see much common ground between the concerns of professional football clubs and the broader public interest in sport. “Sport in Bulgaria over the last 30 years has never, not for a single second, been associated with health. Sport is a business, and when it is a business, it will behave like a business. As for children’s sport, it is funded by parents,” says Tsekov.
Assoc. Prof. Mihail Okoliski, who runs the World Health Organization office in Bulgaria, thinks that industries like gambling can’t regulate themselves, and he says there’s a clear need to stop bombarding the whole society with gambling ads.
Can the Industry Self-Regulate?
At this stage, self-regulation is pretty much the only thing that’s come out of the public outcry against gambling ads at the end of 2022. Due to the stormy reaction to the flood of betting advertisements on TV in mid-December, the gambling industry in Bulgaria announced that it was ready to self-regulate and voluntarily remove all advertising from television screens between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m., unless a sporting event was being broadcast during the day.
The industry also committed to removing announcements about the size of cash and non-cash prizes from television, radio, and outdoor advertising as of January 1, 2023, which means no more advertising of bonuses, jackpots, cars, etc. A commitment has also been made that advertising figures must be at least 23 years old, that outdoor advertising must not be positioned near schools, and that gambling should not be presented as a way of solving social, personal, or financial problems. The gaming industry also promised not to work online with partners who spread aggressive betting messages, such as “play,” “no time,” “bet,” etc.
No one has yet analyzed in detail the extent to which these voluntary commitments are being honored, although there has been a noticeable decline in TV advertising.
“As far as I know, the gambling industry is honoring its commitments, but solving the problem depends on legislative initiative. The CEM is not the body that should deal with this issue,” Sonya Momchilova, chair of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM), told Mediapool. According to her, the body cannot do anything more on the subject. It cannot issue an opinion on legislative change. CEM’s monitoring only leads to reports of gambling advertisements in violation of the law being sent to the National Revenue Agency. So far, more than 12 penalty orders have been issued under this mechanism.
However, according to the National Council for Self-Regulation, the gentlemen’s agreement has not been finalized. “We are still working on the new gambling rules. Gambling operators can comply with them voluntarily, but discussions with us are not yet complete,” Eli Mihaylova from the Self-Regulation Council, which includes associations of TV and radio operators and advertisers, told Mediapool.
Questions were also sent to the Bulgarian Gaming Association, which proposed the voluntary memorandum, but no responses have been received so far.
Belgium bans gambling advertising from July 1
Civil society organizations fighting to promote values other than “easy money” hope that the next parliament, even if it only has two months to work, will make at least one important change for them, such as completely banning gambling advertising. This is because “civil society in Bulgaria needs its small victories,” and advocates for public causes cannot be in a constant, fruitless game of love and hate with politicians.
However, a complete ban on gambling advertising is not included in the pre-election political platforms.
In this respect, Bulgarian politicians clearly differ from their Belgian counterparts. A few days ago, the authorities in Brussels announced that from July 1, the country will impose a ban on gambling advertising in an attempt to reduce addiction and debt accumulation. Advertising messages will be banned on television, radio, in cinemas, magazines, newspapers, public places, as well as on websites and social media. From January 1, 2025, the ban will also apply to stadiums, and from January 1, 2028, gambling companies will not be able to sponsor professional sports clubs.
However, Bulgaria and Belgium are two different worlds.
“When gambling becomes the nation’s main dream, it’s a problem. No one has the right to increase human suffering. There are people who bet their last two leva or their home with empty hope, which is loudly advertised. Today, thousands of children innocently bet their pocket money on predictions of the outcome of World Cup matches. As adults, we know that they are actually betting their lives,” say the National Network for Children and the Parents Association in an almost desperate attempt to alert society to the problem.
About the author:
Dr. Tsvetelina Sokolova is a practicing journalist in the field of finance and economics, with over 17 years of experience in Bulgarian print and online media. She has worked for the newspapers “Sega” and “Trud”, and is currently an editor at the news and analysis website Mediapool.bg. Tsvetelina is an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Sofia University. In 2014, she defended her doctoral dissertation on “Media and Transparency in International Politics (A Model for Empirical Research).” Tsvetelina Sokolova is one of the people in charge of the FactCheck project at Mediapool.bg. She regularly participates in conferences, workshops, and short-term specializations in Bulgaria and abroad. Her areas of interest include access to information, transparency in foreign policy and international relations, public opinion research, deliberative democracy, constructive journalism, and others.
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The project is implemented with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law and the Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria are solely responsible for the content of this document, and under no circumstances can it be assumed that this document reflects the official position of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria.