Bulgarian deputy PM says Eurozone entry will deal a blow to gambling black market
Atanas Zafirov has said gambling harm is an issue of national security.
Bulgaria.- Deputy prime minister Atanas Zafirov has suggested that Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurozone will represent a blow to unlicensed gambling in the country. Speaking to stakeholders at the National Information Centre, Zafirov said the accession expected in 2026 would mean more scrutiny of illicit financial flows in unregulated gambling.
Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and entered the Schengen zone this year. It now expects to adopt the euro in place of the lev next year. Zafirov suggested that adherence to the regulatory frameworks required for Eurozone membership would reinforce the efforts of the country’s gambling regulator to curtail unlicensed operations.
He added said Bulgaria would also contribute more actively to EU-wide initiatives against illegal gambling operations, sharing knowledge with other country’s regulators. Bulgaria’s former interior minister Rumen Petkov recently suggested that the European Union needs a unified regulatory registry for gambling to allow national regulators to collaborate in the detection of unlicensed operators.
Zafirov also used his speech to highlight gambling harm a matter of national security. In April, the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA), which regulates the country’s gambling sector, changed the rules for gambling self-exclusion in the country, increasing the minimum period for which gamblers can self exclude from 30 to 365 days.
The leap to a full year as the minimum period for self-exclusion is intended to provide greater player protection, but some fear that it may put some people off exclusion. Meanwhile, the process for self-exclusion remains fairly complex.
Other gambling reforms in Bulgaria have included tighter restrictions on gambling adverts. Meanwhile, the BSP, one of the three parties in Bulgaria’s new coalition government, has flagged the issue of illegal gambling as a priority issue.
https://focusgn.com/bulgarian-deputy-pm-says-eurozone-entry-will-deal-a-blow-to-gambling-black-market