Bulgaria Drafts Rule Capping Bank Fees on Gambling Payments at 1.5%

^{Bulgaria's National Assembly building in Sofia. The country has opened a consultation on a new rule capping bank fees on gambling payments. (Photo: Лорд Бъмбъри / Wikimedia Commons)}

Draft Rule Targets Payment Providers, Not Operators

Bulgaria has drafted a new rule that would cap at 1.5% the net fees banks, payment institutions and electronic-money companies can retain from gambling-related transactions, with a public consultation on the proposal open until 23 October.

Unlike most gambling reforms, the measure targets payment infrastructure rather than betting and casino operators directly. It would apply to two categories of transaction: deposits placed for participation in gambling games, and payouts of winnings to players.

The draft states that where a bank, payment institution or e-money company "charges and receives remuneration (fee, commission or other form) for a payment operation for accepting funds for participation in gambling games and for paying out winnings," any amount charged above 1.5% of the transaction value would have to be paid into the Bulgarian state budget.

Mandatory Reporting for Payment Providers

Payment providers would also face new monthly declaration and record-keeping obligations under the proposal, giving Bulgarian authorities visibility over exactly how much they charge on gambling transactions. Policymakers said the rule is intended to place greater responsibility on the financial institutions that profit from processing gambling payments, rather than the operators themselves.

The impact assessment accompanying the draft links the proposal to "the high volume of gambling transactions and the higher-risk classification attached to gambling payments in the country."

Bulgaria has taken an increasingly active approach to gambling regulation this year. Lawmakers have separately link_text_goes_here, and the country's regulator has link_text_goes_here covering advertising more broadly.

If adopted after the consultation period closes, the payment fee cap would be one of the more novel approaches taken by an EU member state to gambling-sector regulation, focusing on the cost of moving money rather than licensing or advertising rules that have dominated reform efforts elsewhere in Europe.

Payment Providers Expected to Push Back

Banks and payment institutions operating in Bulgaria are likely to raise concerns during the consultation period about the administrative burden of the new monthly declaration requirements, as well as the practicality of tracking gambling-specific transactions separately from other payment flows. Similar payment-focused interventions in other markets have previously taken longer than expected to implement once providers flagged technical compliance issues.

Bulgarian officials have framed the measure as part of a broader effort to bring greater transparency and accountability to how money moves through the country's gambling sector, rather than as a direct tax on operators or players. Whether the 1.5% cap survives the consultation process in its current form, or is adjusted following feedback from the financial sector, should become clearer once the public comment window closes on 23 October.

The proposal is one of several gambling-related measures Bulgaria has advanced this year, part of a broader pattern across EU member states of regulators looking beyond operator licensing toward the payment rails that support the industry, an area that has historically received far less regulatory attention than advertising or product rules. Whether other EU regulators follow Bulgaria's lead with similar payment-side interventions may depend largely on how smoothly this first version of the rule is implemented.

Source: SBC News