Bulgaria drafts 1.5% net fee cap on gambling transactions

Bulgaria has proposed a rule that would cap the net fees banks, payment institutions and e-money companies can keep from gambling deposits and payouts at 1.5% of the transaction value. For PSPs serving high-risk merchants, the detail that matters is simple: any fee above that line would no longer stay with the provider.

1. The draft says that if a payment institution, bank or e-money company charges more than 1.5% for a gambling-related payment operation, the excess must be paid into the state budget. The rule covers two transaction types: accepting funds for participation in gambling games and paying out winnings.
2. The text is unusually direct about the mechanics. If a user deposits €1,000 and the payments platform charges a €30 fee, the provider would be allowed to retain only €15 as corporate revenue, while the remaining €15 would go to the state budget.
3. Under the proposed provisions, payment providers would face mandatory monthly declarations and record-keeping duties for these processing fees. In other words, this is not just a pricing cap; it is also a reporting regime.
4. The government’s stated aim is to require more responsibility from entities that generate revenue from gambling-related payment services. The impact assessment also says that, given the large volume of gambling transactions and the key role payment processors play in facilitating them, a mechanism is needed to recognise that role.
5. For the high-risk payments market, the practical effect would be a broad push toward gambling payment fees converging at 1.5%, which would also lower costs for end users. The draft frames the premium fee on gambling payments as something the state can capture for national budget revenues, with the theory that those funds could later support problem gambling initiatives.

The draft is notable because it targets the payments layer rather than the gambling operator layer. For PSPs, acquirers and banks active in high-risk verticals, that is the part of the stack where pricing, margins and reporting obligations usually do the real work.