Bulgaria proposes new restrictions for online gambling

The proposals include loss limits and limits on session time.

Bulgaria.- The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Healthcare have published a draft of proposed new rules for online gambling in Bulgaria. The move would introduce loss limits and session time limits, which would vary depending on player age.

The proposals, which are open for consultation until July 5, would require operators to limit players’ gaming sessions to a maximum of four hours at a time for over 24s and two hours for under 24s. Players would need to make a request if they want an extension, and they would also be able to request a reduction in their time limit.

In the case of extension requests, it would be up to each operator to decide whether to grant an them, but they would need to allow at least 24 hours to pass first. Requests for reductions in the time limit would have to be granted immediately.

The time would be counted from the second a customer logs into their account, not from when they start to play a game. Operators would have to advise customers when a limit has been reached and automatically log them out. Exceptions would be allowed for tournaments, in which case operators would have to log the player out of their account as soon as the tournament in questions ends.

In all cases, players would have to sit out for a 15-minute cooling-off period before being able to log in again, at which point operators would have a duty to deliver safer gambling messages and information about Bulgaria’s national self-exclusion register, for which the minimum gambling self exclusion period was recently increased from 30 to 365 days.

The new proposals would also require players to set a 24-hour loss limit, which could be no more than 10 average monthly private sector salaries from the past year as determined by the National Statistics Office from the year. For players aged under 24, the maximum loss limit would be lower, at no more than five average monthly salaries. Operators would have to display the exact figures on their platforms.

If players reached their loss limit, operators would have to automatically place them on the exclusion register for seven days. Players would be able to request an increase or decrease in their loss limit but increases would reqire a wait of at least 24 hours while requests for decreases would be processed immediately. Operators would have to send players automatic notifications when they reach 50, 75 and 100 per cent of their chosen limit.

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.

https://focusgn.com/bulgaria-proposes-new-restrictions-for-online-gambling