G3-247 Report BULGARIA MARKET REPORT
In December 2014 new amendments to the Gambling Act were adopted and this concerned taxation for lotteries whose regulation was missed in the previous amendments.
At the moment bingo and keno don’t fall under control of the Gambling Act and under the amendments these will be subject to 15 percent tax on turnover if they are organised in land operation and 20 percent on the difference between bets placed and winnings paid if organised online.
Rumyana Parusheva of BTAMOGI said: “Business expectations are focused on the introduction of clear and specific statutory rules to attract investors in Bulgaria not only in the gaming sector but also in tourism. Development of tourist services, streamlining of administrative regulations and the introduction of incentives for investors will stimulate Bulgarian economy, which will inevitably affect positively the domestic gaming industry.”
THE LOTTERY The Bulgarian Sports Totalisator (BST) was set up
back in 1957 and since then has been the leader in the lottery sector.
It is run by the state which governs lottery, number lottery games, instant lottery, sports wager and horse and dog racing through this company via the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The management is appointed by the Minister of Physical Education and Sports.
It is the sole organisation today which has the rights over the three number games 5/35, 6/42 and 6/49 – all with two draws a week whilst the latter also have a rolling jackpot.
The lottery began with the game Toto 1 in 1957 followed by 6/49 a few months later. In 1989 they launched 5/35 game.
A fourth game, Toto Joker is also run by the company and this is a game which is won from the prediction of winning pairs of positions and numbers of the serial number of the slips. The draws are held on Thursdays and Saturdays and televised.
Meanwhile since 2002 the Bulgarian Toto has been conducting a game called ‘A Second Toto Chance’ which involves a slip from all three drawings with winners chosen by a pre-printed number of the slip through an additional drawing. The company also has several different types of instant scratch cards.
There are 1,800 toto terminals throughout the country where players can buy loto tickets and although all processing is done off line the group is establishing an online system, SMS toto and different games to be added soon.
Some 17 per cent of revenues are granted to the Ministry of Youth and Sports whilst 15 per cent of corporation tax is also returned to the ministry. It’s motto ‘You win and so does our sport’ is linked to the amount of funding it gives back to Bulgarian
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01 Bulgarian yogurt is claimed to be best in the world. This is thanks to the unique Lactobacillus bulgaricus bacteria used for its production that can only be found in Bulgaria.
01 Bulgaria is the country with the highest number of natural mineral springs in Continental Europe – over 600.
01 The Bulgarian army has never lost a single flag in battle, yet it actively participated in all major wars in Europe since the end of the 19th Century.
01 Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has a Bulgarian background and is named after his Bulgarian grandfather - Marko. His grandfather emigrated from Bulgaria in 1940.
01 The first digital wristwatch was also invented by a Bulgarian. His name is Peter Petroff.
sports and Olympic organisations. Over the years it has dished out some BGN2bn in prizes whilst revenues in 2013 reached BGN160m compared to BGN157m the previous year. They distributed €80m profits and paid €24m in taxes whilst sports and physical education associations received €26.9m.
The Bulgarian lottery hit the world wide headlines back in 2009 when the exact same six numbers were drawn in two consecutive rounds of the lottery within the same week.
On September 6 and 10 the numbers 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 were both drawn which is apparently a one in four million chance. Many believed the lottery was fixed whereas others said it was a freak coincidence. No one won the big jackpot although 18 people did predict the numbers and won BGN10,164 each (equivalent to €5,000)
The year 2012 was very successful for BST. Participants in the TOTO2 games won over BGN74m whilst between 2009 and 2012 the total amount of distributed profits was BGN265m from BGN530m revenues.
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