The National Revenue Agency (NRA) of Bulgaria has officially assumed the responsibilities associated with the regulation of the country’s gambling sector after local lawmakers decided to eliminate the State Gambling Commission (SGC).
The SGC has ceased operation as of August 8th, with the contracts of its Chairman and members terminated. As CasinoGamesPro has previously reported, all assets, powers and responsibilities of the regulatory body were transferred to the executive director of the National Revenue Agency, Galya Dimitrova. Ms. Dimitrova would be able to nominate a deputy to specifically oversee the regulated gambling market in the country.
As part of the changes, the NRA will now have to complete all disciplinary or penal proceedings that were launched by the SGC. The new gambling regulatory body will also have to process all license applications and renewal applications within six months of taking over the responsibilities of the SGC. License holders are not required to reapply for a new authorization, as all operating licenses that the previous regulator awarded remain valid. From now on, the industry data must be submitted and the owed taxes, fees and duties must be paid to the National Revenue Agency.
Bulgarian Legislators Abandoned Plans for Establishing New State Agency to Control Gambling
The talks regarding some changes in the SGC started in January when it became clear that the now-former regulatory body had caused financial damage estimated at more than BGN500 million to the budget. As it was revealed at the time, the damage had been caused because different types of gambling in Bulgaria are subject to different taxes and private companies are not taxed under the same rates as the State Sports Totalizator.
The elimination of the SGC was facilitated by the Bill 054-01-51 that was filed by Alexander Ivanov, a member of the GERB party and is part of the Bulgarian authorities to bring some changes to the country’s gambling sector.
The original plans involved the establishment of a new institution to replace the State Gambling Commission – a State Agency that would have operated under the Council of Ministers. Eventually, Bulgarian lawmakers decided that no separate body to regulate the gambling industry would be established, and a specialized unit of the National Revenue Agency would assume the functions associated with issuing licensing permits and regulation of all gambling activity in the country.
As mentioned above, all assets, registers, archives and responsibilities of the SGC are now transferred to the NRA. The National Revenue Agency will also control the investments and funding used for games organization.
Apart from that, the NRA is set to also start maintaining a special gambling self-exclusion register, with problem gamblers being able to submit their application to the new regulatory body. Individuals who find it hard to control their gambling habits would be able to ban themselves from gambling for a minimum of two years.
