Bulgaria prepares sweeping gambling reform with near-total ad ban and higher taxes

The Bulgarian government has put a package of gambling-law changes out for public consultation, combining heavy marketing restrictions with a shift toward higher taxation. For high-risk operators and PSPs, the important bit is not the rhetoric about transparency — it is that the state is moving to tighten both customer acquisition and the economics of land-based and online gambling.

1. The government says the package is meant to improve transparency, create a fairer tax regime, and curb gambling addiction. Prime Minister Rumen Radev backed the initiative, and the cabinet has 135 of the 240 seats in parliament, so once the consultation period ends it has the votes to push the reform forward.
2. The advertising rules would be close to a total ban on gambling marketing in Bulgaria. Under the proposal, operators would no longer be able to advertise in public spaces, print media, or online; the only remaining channel would be sports sponsorship. The reform would also remove illuminated signs outside casinos and gaming halls, extending the restriction from media placement into the physical venues themselves.
3. Bulgaria already prohibits gambling ads on radio and television under Article 10 of the Gambling Act, with an exception for the state lottery. The proposed changes would close the remaining channels that operators currently use, which is the sort of move that tends to matter more in practice than the headline “marketing restrictions” language suggests.
4. On the tax side, the government wants to replace the current fixed-fee model for land-based casinos, gaming halls, and slot-machine venues with a system based on the actual financial results of each game. All equipment would have to be connected in real time to the National Revenue Agency, closing a visibility gap that the authorities link to anti-money-laundering enforcement.
5. For online gambling, the tax rate in Bulgaria stands at 25% of gross gaming revenue from January 2026, after a 5% increase approved in the 2025 budget, with a separate 10% corporate tax on top. An opposition push for another increase was rejected when the 2026 budget was approved at the end of July, but at a cabinet meeting on 23 September, Radev said the government plans to raise the rate on operations substantially.

For PSPs, the practical takeaway is straightforward: Bulgaria is moving toward a tighter operating environment on both sides of the business model. Marketing acquisition gets harder, land-based monitoring gets more intrusive, and the online tax burden is already high enough that any further increase will feed directly into merchant economics.