EU iGaming weekly: Bulgaria’s ad ban bill, bet365 cuts, FATF red flags

Democratic Bulgaria filed a bill to ban almost all gambling advertising, bet365 cut 340 roles, Playtech’s adjusted EBITDA rose 77%, and the FATF published its first risk report on online and illegal gambling.

This week at a glance

• Democratic Bulgaria filed a bill on 9 September that would ban gambling advertising on billboards, websites, apps and by direct message.
• bet365 confirmed on 8 September that it will cut approximately 340 roles, around 3% of its workforce.
• Playtech’s adjusted EBITDA rose 77% to €162.5 million in the first half, with US and Canadian revenue up 161%.
• The FATF published its first detailed report on online and illegal gambling, with red flag indicators in five categories.
• The DSWV said a Frankfurt investigation covering €5.86 billion in wagers should force a rethink of Germany’s black market estimates.

Five biggest stories of the week

1. Democratic Bulgaria files a near-total advertising ban

Democratic Bulgaria filed a bill in the 52nd National Assembly on 9 September 2026, registered as 52-654-01-130. The current cap on outdoor advertising, set at 5% of an outdoor provider’s total advertising area, would become an outright ban on billboards, flags, boards and banners. The exemption for billboards more than 300 metres from schools and playgrounds would go. Websites, mobile apps, online platforms under the Digital Services Act, online advertising providers under the Digital Markets Act, and direct contact by text or email would all be added as new categories.

The National Revenue Agency would enforce it. Its executive director could order advertising taken down and suspend access to online advertising services that ignore those orders for up to one month. Internet and hosting providers that take a share of gambling advertising revenue would be treated as breaching the ban directly, and any provider would be liable if it fails to remove illegal content, or restrict access to it, within 12 hours.

2. bet365 cuts 340 roles as UK duty bites

bet365 confirmed on 8 September 2026 that it will cut approximately 340 roles across its European offices. Around 300 go at the Stoke-on-Trent headquarters, which employs about 5,500 people, and the remaining 40 at its Gibraltar and Malta offices. The company employs roughly 10,000 people globally and puts the reduction at around 3% of its workforce. It will start with a voluntary redundancy programme, and affected staff have already been informed.

Tax is the driver. Remote gaming duty rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, and a separate 25% rate for remote betting takes effect on 1 April 2027, up from 15%. Gambling Commission operating licence fees also rise by 25% from 1 October 2026. bet365 is the fifth large UK operator to announce cuts or closures this year, after Evoke, Entain, Betfred and Flutter Entertainment.

The Betting and Gaming Council counts 540 announced shop closures and around 4,500 job losses since the Budget was delivered on 26 November 2025, and expects those figures to pass 600 closures and 5,000 job losses by the end of 2026.

3. Playtech’s adjusted EBITDA rises 77%

Playtech’s adjusted EBITDA rose 77% to €162.5 million in the six months to 30 June 2026, on revenue up 10% to €425.1 million. B2B did the work. Divisional revenue rose 14% to €394.8 million and B2B adjusted EBITDA rose 75% to €128.1 million, with the margin widening from 21.1% to 32.4%. Free cash flow reached €101.0 million, against €6.6 million a year earlier.

The US and Canada were the biggest single driver, with revenue up 161% to €56.9 million, most of it attributed to Games powered by Past Motor Racing, a product built for Hard Rock Bet in Florida. UK B2B revenue fell 8% to €59.0 million, with only three months of the higher remote gaming duty landing in the half.

Playtech kept full-year guidance of more than €270 million in adjusted EBITDA and now expects to reach the top of its €250 million to €300 million medium-term range far earlier than planned, but has told the market that second-half earnings will come in below the first.

4. FATF publishes red flag indicators for gambling

The Financial Action Task Force published Risks of Gaming and Gambling on 9 September 2026, its first detailed examination of risks tied to online and illegal gambling. Its previous work on the sector, in 2009, was focused on casinos. The report draws on questionnaire responses from 80 jurisdictions and written comments from 29, and covers land-based and online casinos, sports and novelty betting, non-casino products such as lotteries and bingo, online video and mobile gaming, and illegal operators.

Illegal gambling is named one of the most significant risks in the sector, with the FATF saying illegal markets rival or even exceed the size of legal ones in many jurisdictions. The indicators are grouped into five categories: customer behaviour and profile, online accounts, betting patterns, payment methods and transactions, and product and platform features.

The FATF is explicit that the list is not exhaustive and that a single indicator is not in itself a clear sign of illicit activity. It asks governments to strengthen licensing and registration requirements, raise awareness of illegal and offshore gambling, and deepen international co-operation.

5. Germany’s black market figure comes under question

The German Sports Betting Association said on 9 September 2026 that the scale of a Frankfurt criminal investigation raises questions about the estimates used so far. According to the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office, wagers of approximately €5.86 billion are said to have been processed through illegally operated platforms between July 2021 and the end of 2023 alone. The figure refers to stakes wagered, not to what the platforms earned.

DSWV president Mathias Dahms said nearly six billion euros in wagers over two and a half years in a single investigation must prompt a critical review of previous assumptions about the size of the black market. The association offered no alternative figure and repeated its call for a consistent crackdown on illegal services and for data-driven monitoring.

Germany’s most recent published number remains a 2024 study, cited in the GGL’s 2025 activity report, which put unlicensed online gambling at 23% of the market and channelisation into the legal market at 77%.

What to watch next week

The Bulgarian bill has only been filed. It still needs committee scrutiny and a first reading, and no vote has been scheduled. In Britain, bet365 has said it will begin with voluntary redundancies but has not given a timetable, and the next fixed date in the calendar is the 25% rise in Gambling Commission operating licence fees on 1 October. Playtech has guided to a weaker second half and is spending ahead of a Brazil partnership it expects to sign late in 2026.

Germany’s black market number does not move until either the GGL or the DSWV publishes fresh data, and the DSWV has not put one forward. Entain’s FTSE 100 exit, covered in last week’s recap, is implemented at the close on 18 September.

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