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Bulgaria’s National Revenue Agency (NRA) has said it will meet with fellow Balkan gambling regulators to collaborate on targeting illegal gambling.
Aleksandar Popov, the director of the NRA's supervision of gambling activities, which oversees gambling in Bulgaria, said: “We are trying to exchange information and get a better picture of the market.”
Representatives from the NRA spoke during a roundtable discussion on the Balkans at ICE Barcelona 2025.
Popov explained: “Most of the operators in Bulgaria operate in Greece, Romania, and Serbia as well.”
Leonidas Karakidis, a senior advisor at the Hellenic Gaming Commission, said the regulators from these countries will have some meetings to “fight illegal gambling”.
Karakidis said measures taken to fight illegal gambling could be inspired by the UK Gambling Commission’s actions, which he sees as a regulatory “role model”.
To help protect the legal market beyond expanding cooperation, the NRA blocked more than 2,500 websites in 2024.
The NRA has also “examined the possibility of introducing B2B licences”, according to Popov, but the country’s well-developed IT sector has deterred the government from enforcing taxes on people “with high wages”.
“We are looking at the possibility of introducing specific licences for the financial operators that are working with the gambling operators because we know there is such a licence in Romania and it worked pretty well,” Popov said.
In recent years, Bulgaria’s market and regulations have been in constant development, and last year revenue taxed from gambling increased by around 20 percent, according to the NRA.
Despite the market's growth and recent regulatory changes, including an advertising ban, Popov is “not expecting a lot of new changes” surrounding taxes this year.
“Taxation for online betting is 20 percent tax of gross gaming revenue (GGR), which is not an enormous amount. We know other markets are working with higher rates,” Popov said.
Another member of the NRA pointed out that the taxation rate helps the market remain “competitive” for its 51 licensed online operators and more than 1,100 land-based venues.
