The Association of Gaming Industry in Bulgaria (AGIB) has reported that, in 2023, legal operators within the Bulgarian market paid out close to BNG 5.79bn ($3.18bn) in earnings, accounting for monetary and material winnings over BNG 5,000.
These results were found by the National Revenue Agency, led by Rumen Spetsov. The agency also found that this result reflected growth of close to 147% year-on-year, with winnings paid out in 2022 totalling BNG 2.34bn.
Operators are obligated to report any winnings to players over BNG 5,000 to tax agencies by law in Bulgaria. Therefore, it is possible the total winnings paid by gambling operators in Bulgaria last year was above BNG 6bn. However, these smaller amounts were not accounted for by the National Revenue Agency.
The BNG 5.79bn total paid out last year was distributed among 120,853 people. This is an increase of 128.7% from last year, when profits were spread out across 52,852 players.
In 2022, when only accounting for winnings over BNG 5,000, this means the average player received BNG 44,275 each. This increased slightly in 2023, with the average amount received among the 120,853 players being BNG 47,909 each. This means, on average, players were paid 8.2% more each year-on-year.
In April of this year, Bulgarian political groups proposed a national advertising ban on gambling, calling out increased rates of addiction as a reason for this. However, despite these conditions, many operators and suppliers have entered or expanded their presence in the Bulgarian market in the year so far.
In April, Hacksaw Gaming went live in Bulgaria through Alphawin, with Topwin expanding its Bulgarian presence via a partnership with Softswiss in May. Most recently, Evoplay partnered with Sesame in Bulgaria, expanding its presence in the market.
