Policymakers in Bulgaria have drafted a proposal to tighten control of consumer online gambling spend and behaviour.

The proposal was put forward by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Healthcare, with the texts calling for mandatory game session limits, a cap on wager amounts, as well as a ceiling on accumulated losses within a 24-hour period.

Age-based session limits

Both Ministries are calling for a maximum of four hours for game sessions per customer. This would fall within the responsibility of the iGaming operators to impose.

For customers under 24 years of age, this limit would be set at two hours per game session.

Each player would be able to ask for either an extension or a reduction in the time limit within that four-hour bracket. Requests for extensions are to be granted at the discretion of each operator, not earlier than 24 hours after the request has been made. 

Customer requests for a reduction in the time limit are to be granted immediately by operators.

The clock on each game session starts counting the second a customer logs into their account. When a time limit is reached, operators will be required to inform the customer and log them out of their account.

Exceeding the limit will be possible in certain scenarios, such as participation in tournaments, but operators will again immediately log players out as soon as the tournament is over.

There will be a 15-minute cooling off period before players can log in again after they’ve reached their session limit, with the operator subsequently providing safer gambling messages and information about the national self-exclusion registry.

Loss limits

Further RG measures include a mandatory loss limit within a 24-hour period set by players. 

All players will be asked by operators to agree to be signed into the national self-exclusion registry for a period of seven days if the 24-hour loss limit is reached. Players will not be allowed to gamble if they refuse to opt in.

The maximum amount of losses allowed within a 24-hour period will correlate to 10 average monthly salaries within the private sector, based on figures from the National Statistics Office from the year prior.

For everyone under 24 years of age, this amount will be set to a maximum of five average monthly salaries. Operators will be required to clearly communicate these figures with players by displaying them on their online platforms.

Again, loss limits can be increased or decreased within the given spectrum – with requests for an increase granted by operators no less than 24 hours, while requests for a decrease granted immediately.

Notifications will be automatically sent out when a customer reaches 50%, 75%, and 100% of their set limit.

When 100% is reached, operators will be required to automatically put the customer on the self-exclusion registry for a period of seven days.

Wager size capped

All operators will be required to introduce a maximum wagering limit across their iGaming portfolios, to be set by the player.

For players over 24, the total wagering limit across all games on a specific platform for a period of 24 hours must not exceed 20 average monthly salaries. For under-24s, this limit is 10 salaries.

Wager caps for individual games will depend on the hours of the day they are played in, with the set periods being between 6am and 8pm, and 8pm and 6am.

Deadline for consultations

The above proposals will be open for stakeholder consultations until 5 July. If accepted, the draft will become the latest step in Bulgaria’s active efforts to build a more sustainable gambling sector.

Source