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Legal Land-Based Casinos in Bulgaria
Land-based casinos are spread evenly throughout the entire country. Many of them are located in resort areas. The list of well-known gambling establishments in the country has included London Club in Sofia, Royale Palms Casino in Burgas and Black Sea and Сasino Hotel Оceanic in Varna. Popular games in Bulgarian casinos are slot machines, roulette games, card games and dice. The casinos do not normally have a strict dress code. Yet no people in uniforms are allowed to enter. Entry into gaming establishments is only available to people who can produce identification documents.
Gambling Games in Bulgaria
Bulgarian players' favourite slots come largely from domestic studios. The most played include 40 Super Hot, 40 Burning Hot and 30 Spicy Fruits by Amusnet (formerly EGT Interactive), a Sofia-based developer and one of the most successful Bulgarian gaming companies abroad. International titles such as Book of Ra Deluxe 6 by Greentube, Wild Shark and All Ways Hot Fruits by Amatic and Pragmatic Play slots are also popular, and virtual sports games are in demand among betting fans.
Casino Technology (today operating as CT Gaming, with its online division CT Interactive) is a well-known Bulgarian supplier of gaming software products for both offline and online casinos. This developer was previously known as Megajack. The company was founded back in 1999. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Sofia. According to the company, CT Gaming has subsidiaries in more than 20 countries and over 900 employees worldwide. Casino Technology has been nominated for many awards at ceremonies such as the International Gaming Awards, Global Gaming Awards, BEGE and Peru Gaming Show.
Today the developer's portfolio has more than 50 different video slots. The games developed by this company are distinguished by their simple rules, convenient usability and variety of themes. Each slot normally has 5 reels and some bonus rounds. The best-known products of the supplier include Aztec Gold, Cat Queen, Power of Ankh, 40 Shining Jewels, American Gigolo, Australian Magic, Bavarian Forest and Beetle Star. Most of the slots have trial versions, which provides an opportunity to check out the games for free.
Gambling Legislation
In 1989 Bulgaria joined the market economy, which affected the gambling industry. On the one hand, the industry started developing, yet on the other hand, a host of semi-legal facilities with poor service sprang up throughout the country and provided services of questionable quality. This made the government and business representatives start working on the development of standards for the regulation of the gambling industry. As a result, from 1993 till 1999 the decree was in force that regulated the operations of land-based casinos, bingo games and lotteries. And in 1999 the Law on Regulating the Gambling Business was passed. The Gambling Act of 1999 remained in force until 2012, when it was replaced by the new Gambling Act (State Gazette No. 26 of 30 March 2012), which is still in force with various amendments to this day.
Main milestones since then:
- 2012 - the new Gambling Act introduced licensing of online gambling and the blocking of unlicensed gambling websites.
- 2020 - the State Commission on Gambling was closed and its supervisory and licensing functions were transferred to the National Revenue Agency.
- 2024 - amendments to the Gambling Act banned gambling advertising on radio and television (except for games run by the state) and restricted outdoor and other advertising.
- 1 January 2026 - Bulgaria adopted the euro, so capital requirements, fees and winnings are now handled in euro.
Gambling Licensing
A License for online gambling is also issued by the National Revenue Agency (before 2020 - by the State Commission on Gambling, SCG). According to Bulgarian legislation, the operator must be registered in Bulgaria, another EU or EEA member state or Switzerland, keep its central computer systems there and have an authorised representative in Bulgaria. Websites that operate in the country without this permit will be blocked on the basis of orders of the Sofia District Court. The lists of licensed and blocked gambling websites can be found on the NRA's official website. Among the most visited licensed brands are 8888.bg, WINBET, Palms Bet, efbet and Betano, which combine sports betting with online casino games. Bulgarian clients of online casinos prefer sports betting, slots, especially the ones by Casino Technology, poker and table games. Basic points of the law:
- The Government's key objective is to deny any criminal or criminal organisations access to the gambling industry. The list of people who will be denied the appropriate licenses includes convicts, violators of tax legislation, citizens who filed for bankruptcy and organisers of underground gambling.
- Prospective casino owners in Bulgaria must have a fully paid-up minimum capital of 1,500,000 BGN (about 767,000 EUR); for gaming machine halls the minimum is 750,000 BGN (about 383,000 EUR).
- Foreigners that would like to open a gaming establishment in the country must run a four-star hotel. The alternative option for citizens of other countries is to invest 10 million USD into Bulgaria's economy and create 500 jobs. These requirements of foreign entrepreneurs are based on the goal to safeguard the Bulgarian gambling industry. This rule, however, does not apply to companies that are registered in the EU.
- The Bulgarian government state structures are also allowed to operate gambling businesses, and their proceeds must go towards the development of sports, healthcare, culture and social programs in the country.
- Gambling houses cannot be placed in government buildings.
- Advertising of gambling on radio and television is not allowed, except for games organised by the state; other advertising must carry the warning "Gambling poses a risk of developing addiction".
- Bulgarian gambling law allowed a special regulating body, the State Commission on Gambling, to be set up. The commission was part of the Ministry of Finance until it was closed in 2020; since then gambling has been supervised by the National Revenue Agency. Accordingly, only holders of special licenses issued by the Commission have the right to run gambling operations. Membership in the organisation is granted exclusively to citizens of Bulgaria who have a higher level of education, preferably a law degree, as well as work experience in the legal field of at least 5 years. Another requirement of members of the Commission is a lack of interest in the gambling area.
The National Revenue Agency (formerly the State Commission on Gambling) can issue, revoke or suspend the gambling license, monitor the operations of gambling businesses, conduct appropriate inspections and ensure that taxes from the gambling industry end up in the State Treasury. The reviewing of documents is not included in the fee for the license. Online casinos that do not have the permit from this organisation will be blocked and blacklisted. Requirements for offline gambling halls:
- Pursuant to the state legislation, a gambling hall must contain at least 20 gaming machines and be located in cities with a population of over 50,000. If the facility is located in a city with a fewer people, there has to be at least 10 slot machines.
- The minimum of two square meters must be allotted for each slot machine.
- A casino must have at least five gaming tables. There has to be at least two roulette tables. The country's authorities believe that this is the way they will manage to safeguard the gambling market from small-time gambling facilities, whose operations will be hard to regulate.
- The average payback percentage of slot machines must be at least 80 percent. The games must undergo a regular quality check by the State Commission on Gambling.
- Gambling houses must be located at a distance of over 300 meters away from schools or other educational institutions.
- Owners of gambling houses and online casinos are not allowed to produce or supply gaming content.
- Gaming houses are not allowed to provide any credits to the visitors.
- Minors, intoxicated people, people in uniforms (unless on their service duties) or people without identification documents are strictly forbidden from entry into casinos. Players are also prohibited from bringing any weapons into casinos.
- Representatives of gambling business, casino employees or their family members are not allowed to gamble.
- Winnings to the visitors were paid in BGN; since Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, they are paid in euro.
Development of Gambling Market in Bulgaria
Despite the rigidity of the regulations listed above, they will still contribute to the development of the gambling industry in Bulgaria while preventing the creation of small illegal gambling facilities at the same time. To obtain a license, an application must be submitted to the National Revenue Agency, along with a set of documents including ones that confirm the company's registration, a certificate to show a clear criminal record, a financial statement, the permission to open a gaming facility from all owners of the premises, which has been notarized, and documents that show the origin of the gaming equipment and testify to its quality. The application for a primary license will be reviewed for up to two and a half months. The license will remain valid for 5 or 10 years from the moment it is issued.
Gambling Taxes in Bulgaria
Since 2012, gambling tax in the country was 7%. But in 2013 the tax was increased to 15%. It was initiated by the Minister of Finance at the time Simeon Djankov. This initiative was endorsed by Parliament. After this, taxes on gambling in 2014 increased by 120 BGN. At the same time the Government decided to inspect gambling websites. Only the holders of the license issued by the National Revenue Agency are allowed to conduct both land-based and online gambling operations. According to the country's legislation:
- Owners of gambling businesses must have their software inspected for quality on a regular basis. Gaming systems and software must be registered with the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology.
- Advertising of gambling is strictly limited.
- Unlicensed websites will be blacklisted.
- Organisers pay state fees set by the Gambling Act; for sports betting, for example, the fee is 20% of the gaming revenue in addition to a fixed licence fee (BGN 400,000 per year for online betting).
Despite the rigidity of the provisions in the Gambling Law, the country's gambling industry is still on the rise. Land-based casinos are visited by the locals as well as tourists. Products by the local suppliers of software products, Amusnet and CT Gaming (Casino Technology), are the ones that are in most demand among the visitors of online portals.
