Democratic Bulgaria tables bill for near-total gambling ad ban

Billboards would lose their exemption, online ad networks would fall inside the ban, and hosting providers would face a 12-hour takedown deadline.

Bulgaria restricted gambling advertising in 2024, and Democratic Bulgaria MPs say operators have worked around the rules ever since. The party filed a bill in the 52nd National Assembly on 9 September 2026 to close the gaps and extend the ban to almost every remaining channel.

What the bill would ban

The bill, registered as 52-654-01-130, rewrites the advertising article of the Gambling Act.

• Radio and television programmes would be replaced by the wider audio-visual media and radio services category.
• Print and electronic media, including websites, would be narrowed to print media alone, with websites moved to a dedicated online provision.
• The current cap on outdoor advertising, set at 5% of any outdoor advertising provider’s total advertising area, would become an outright ban covering billboards, flags, advertising boards and banners, among others.
• The exception allowing billboards more than 300 metres from schools, playgrounds and other listed sites would be repealed.
• The mandatory gambling risk warning would have to appear in a clearly distinguishable font and a colour allowing it to be read without difficulty.

Three new categories would be added: websites, online news services, mobile applications and online platforms under the EU Digital Services Act; providers of online advertising services under the Digital Markets Act; and direct contact by text message, email or other direct means.

The definition of gambling advertising would widen as well, covering product and service placement and any message, recommendation or action that uses the name or trademark of a product, website, sports league, event or venue closely resembling that of a gambling operator.

New enforcement powers

The National Revenue Agency, which regulates gambling in Bulgaria, would run a single online form for reports of illegal advertising and publish monthly figures on violations and penalties. 

Its executive director could order impermissible advertising taken down and suspend access to online advertising services that systematically ignore those orders, for up to one month.

Internet and hosting providers that take a share of gambling advertising revenue would be treated as directly breaching the ban and could not invoke the passive-transmission defence. Separately, any internet or hosting provider would be liable if it fails to remove illegal content, or restrict access to it, within 12 hours of learning of it or receiving a removal order.

Bozhidar Bozhanov, co-chair of Yes, Bulgaria and deputy chair of the Democratic Bulgaria parliamentary group, said (translated from Bulgarian):

‘Today we are submitting a bill to amend the Gambling Act, with which we will fill all the ‘loopholes’, ban advertising everywhere, in all ways, without any opportunities for gambling operators to take advantage of the existing loopholes in the law.’

Measures aimed at unlicensed operators

Three provisions target illegal gambling rather than advertising.

• Crypto-asset service providers and trading platform operators could not transfer crypto-assets intended for online gambling to or from unlicensed operators, or from operators ordered to stop and listed on the NRA register, mirroring the existing ban on payment institutions.
• Cash deposit terminals could not fund online betting accounts before a customer’s identity is verified.
• Very large online search engines, as defined by the Digital Services Act, would have to stop returning results for unlicensed operators’ sites.

Why the sponsors say it is needed

The explanatory memorandum says part of the 2024 package is simply not applied, because compliance is not policed and because operators have not acted in good faith. The 5% outdoor limit is neither observed nor controlled, it says, and the agency cites organisational difficulties while lacking the will to fix it.

The memorandum also names workarounds it wants sanctioned. Among them are near-invisible risk warnings and news sites presented so as to promote a gambling brand.

Bozhanov told reporters that gambling advertising ran on national television and across whole cities despite the restrictions. He said a full ban on gambling itself would need careful assessment because of the risk of encouraging illegal gambling, and that the bill’s focus is on removing advertising rather than higher sanctions.

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