Bulgaria proposes gambling tax floor of €100,000 a month for online operators and real-time NRA monitoring

Bulgaria has published the full draft of its gambling reforms and opened a public consultation that runs until October 23. For operators, the headline items are hard to miss: a higher minimum tax floor, real-time reporting to the National Revenue Agency (NRA), and an advertising regime that is close to a blanket ban.

1. The draft would introduce a non-reducible monthly minimum contribution of €100,000 for the variable element of the state fee paid by every online gambling operator. In plain English: if you are licensed, you pay at least that amount each month, regardless of how the month went.
2. Land-based gambling would face fixed minimum monthly payments as well. The draft sets the floor at €200 for each slot machine or gaming position, €5,000 for every casino roulette table and €2,500 for each other gaming table. The policy aim, according to the explanatory memorandum, is to ensure a minimum fiscal contribution from every licensed operator.
3. Casinos and gaming halls would also be wired into the NRA for real-time monitoring. The proposed system would require operators to progressively transmit betting, deposit and payout data directly to the regulator, reducing reliance on operator-submitted reports and giving the state direct visibility into activity.
4. The government says the reforms are meant to improve transparency, increase state revenues, strengthen supervision and encourage consolidation in the market. That last point is not accidental: when the floor goes up, smaller operators tend to feel the squeeze first.
5. The package also goes after promotion. It would introduce an almost complete ban on advertising and sponsorship, while increasing funding for education, healthcare and youth programmes through larger responsible gambling contributions and tougher player protection measures.

The timing matters because Bulgaria’s online gambling sector has been growing quickly. NRA figures cited in the draft show online wagers rising from BGN44bn in 2023 to BGN55bn in 2024 and BGN66bn (€33.75bn) in 2025, with licensed online betting operators increasing from seven in 2019 to 26.