In the middle of January, MP Valeri Simeonov presented amendments to the Gambling Act, revoking the licenses of private lottery companies and establishing a state monopoly on lottery games in the face of the Bulgarian Sports Totalizator. Former deputy Prime Minister Simeonov is an influential politician who is the head of The National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, which is part of the ruling coalition government. His proposals drew the attention of society and overshadowed many other current processes and events in this country. Initially, his ideas were approved by almost all official institutions, including Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance.

A lot of money is involved – over 150 million euros a year and revenues exceeding 50 million euros. According to some sources, the stakes are even bigger and amount to 3% of the Bulgarian Gross Domestic Product. Until now, leader in this attractive and lucrative gambling market was Vasil Bozhkov – a famous businessman, collector of antiques and owner of the Levski football team.

MP Valeri Simeonov has told the Bulgarian National Television that he was proposing that “… the National Assembly should totally prohibit lotteries as a type of gambling business available to private companies. The lottery must be the work of the Bulgarian Sports Totalizator, which has the obligation to direct 50 percent of the revenues to sports and culture." Licensing is also required for all locations selling lottery tickets. All this is done with the explanation that a "serious step is being taken with regard to protecting human health." In addition to being "harmful to health", private lotteries also turned out to be violators of the law as the Public Financial Inspection Agency accused them of not paying over100 million euros in taxes.

Private lotteries responded and defined these measures as "unconstitutional" and as "nationalization of private business", and an attempt to establish a "state monopoly on gambling". Vasil Bozhkov even warned that if he was thrown out of the gaming business he would stop financing the football club of Levski. Worried about this, Levski fans arranged a meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, but he did not promise them anything specific and advised them to become shareholders of the club, like other well-known European football teams. Bulgarian Minister of Sports Krasen Kralev also advocated for changes to the law.

The Ministry of Finance eventually proposed that the current model of taxation of gambling should be retained, while introducing uniform fiscal rules for both private and public operators. Citing the example of countries such as Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, etc., it has been proposed that by a special law a State Gambling Agency was set up instead of the current Gambling Commission as it was "bought" and "corrupt," according to Mr. Simeonov.

Actually, the Parliament's Budget Committee adopted the bill proposed by Valery Simeonov, but it is more likely that MPs will also take into account the proposals of the Ministry of Finance during the second reading of the new law. It is not clear what kind of hybrid law would ultimately come out, but in any case there would be changes, experts say, quoting foreign experience from other European countries, where lotteries are also state-owned. In this connection, famous Bulgarian lawyer and former Prime Minister Prof. Ognian Gerdjikov said on television that “the state could not afford to monopolize gambling. I hope the legislature would not go against the constitution."

English: Alexander Markov