High level requirement for online and land based licences can be found on the NRA site and link to Gambling Act at: https://nra.bg/wps/portal/nra-en/gambling.en ## Licence Triggers Making facilities for gambling available to persons based in Bulgaria. ## Type of licence needed Specifically the type of licences that can be granted are: Lottery games: traditional lottery, instant lottery, raffle, the lottery game with numbers (pools, lotto, bingo, keno, and their varieties); Games by betting on outcomes of sports competitions, and horse and dog races; Games with betting on chance events and with betting involving right guessing of facts; Games with slot machines. Casino games. Activities of manufacturing, distribution, and service maintenance of gambling equipment. Activities of import, distribution, and service maintenance of gambling equipment. The indicated gambling games, except raffles and instant lottery, may also be organized online – directly via the Internet or via other electronic means of communication: mobile or stationary phone sets, radio, television, satellite, or other means. A license shall give the right to organize only a game or activity explicitly stipulated in it (Article 3, Paragraph 3 of the Gambling Act), i.e. for each type of gambling game or activity, a separate license is required. ## Period of licence & renewal process Licences can be awarded for a five, or for a ten-year period in circumstances where operators are able to prove in advance that it will exceed a BGN 2m investment threshold. ## Application timeframe and phases Normally it takes 2-4 months for the application to be process by the regulator To ensure compliance the regulator may require the preparation and submission of internal rules, policies and procedures; contractual templates; general terms and conditions; approval and appointment of the relevant authorised individuals who will act in key compliance-required roles (Key Persons). For both ongoing compliance and initial licensing purposes, online gambling operators need also to comply with domestic law. This includes advertising regulation, the consumer protection, data protection, AML, and others. ## Geographical cover The licences are specific to Bulgaria only ## Mechanics of the licence process There is no tie to having a land based licensed where foreign applicants can apply for remote licences without limit on number of licences granted ## Bad Actor / cooling off periods The applicant must not have been found in breach of the Gambling Act at any time (e.g., have had its licence revoked; had its directors or majority shareholders subjected to criminal proceedings, etc.). This also extends sanctioning by the EEA countries in respect of licences held there or unlicensed activity. ## Applicant considerations EU-registered entity The applicant must be an EEA -registered company (as such, Gibraltar and Great Britain companies no longer qualify post-Brexit). Authorised representative If the company is not Bulgarian, it must nominate an authorised representative in Bulgaria who does not have independent status. The NRA must approve the gaming software and any updates. Foreign operators from outside the EU, the EEA or the Swiss Confederation can only take part in the operation of gambling in Bulgaria if at least one of the following conditions is met: The company organises gambling activities in a casino at a four-star or higher category hotel when the hotel is the property of the company or of a controlled company. The company has invested financial resources amounting to at least €10m in gambling and other activities in Bulgaria and has provided at least 500 jobs. Capitalisation / Bank guarantees Minimum paid-in capital to obtain gambling licence: is BGN 750,000 (around EUR 383,000). Slot machine licensees face a minimum capital requirement of BGN 1 million Land based casino licensees need at least BGN 1.5 million (about €767,000).
Bulgaria · Question 02 of 11
Licensing and regulation: Can we get a licence?
Mixed · Probable · Expert approved · 5 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope · Back to full Bulgaria report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Bulgaria (BG) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Probable |
| Review status | Expert approved · 5 post-review updates · Not reviewed · In expert review scope |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
High level requirement for online and land based licences can be found on the NRA site and link to Gambling Act at: https://nra.bg/wps/portal/nra-en/gambling.en ## Licence Triggers Making facilities for gambling available to persons based in Bulgaria. ## Type of licence needed Specifically the …
The affiliate-licensing regime for Bulgaria's gambling sector was introduced through the transitional provisions of the State Budget Act for 2026 (State Gazette issue 69), which amended the Gambling Act with effect from 1 August 2026, and this regime remains in force. A draft Act amending and supplementing the Gambling Act, notified to the European Commission on 2 October 2026 as TRIS notification 2026/0536/BG, would terminate all active gambling-affiliate licences created under that August 2026 regime, with termination effective from 1 January 2027. This would reverse the affiliate-licensing framework within five months of its creation. The draft remains at public consultation stage (item 12738-K, closing 23 October 2026) and has not been tabled before the National Assembly. An operator holding or seeking a Bulgarian affiliate licence today is operating under a regime created by budget-linked transitional provisions that a separate, later draft instrument proposes to unwind entirely.
The affiliate operator licence, created under the August 2026 State Budget Act and administered by the National Revenue Agency with an annual fee and commission withholding, is itself the subject of a draft proposal opened for public consultation on 23 September 2026. That draft Gambling Act amendment would terminate all active affiliate licences from 1 January 2027, reversing a regime that had been in force for only a matter of weeks. The draft is a proposal before the legislature, not an enacted instrument, and the current affiliate licensing framework remains operative pending any enactment. No change to core operator licensing conditions beyond the affiliate class was evidenced this cycle.
Affiliate marketers whose remuneration is linked to referrals, deposits, bets, or gross gaming revenue must now hold an NRA-issued approval, effective 1 August 2026 under transitional provisions of the 2026 State Budget Act amending the Gambling Act (State Gazette issue 69). This is a primary-legislation change brought in via a budget-act transitional provision rather than a standalone gambling-law amendment, and the National Revenue Agency has issued official guidance to affiliates and operators clarifying the scope of remuneration structures that trigger the approval requirement. The change directly extends Bulgaria's gambling-licensing perimeter beyond operators to the affiliate-marketing layer of the value chain, a segment that had not previously required its own regulatory approval. Operators relying on affiliate-driven acquisition should treat this as a new counterparty-compliance obligation: verifying that every affiliate in a performance-linked arrangement holds the requisite NRA approval before continuing to pay commission on referred activity.
A new gambling_affiliate_licence category was created under the Gambling Act as amended by Section 34 of the State Budget Act 2026, issued by the NRA Gambling Office with five-year validity. The category captures performance-linked affiliate remuneration, specifically commission, deposit, bet or winnings-based arrangements, while flat-fee or time-based advertising remains outside its scope. The licence is confirmed by NRA official decision R-CU-30-9/27.01.2026 and corroborated by multiple trade-press sources reporting the 1 August 2026 in-force date. The underlying instrument mix is MIXED: the enabling change arrives through budget-act transitional provisions rather than a freestanding gambling statute, so the licence sits on an enabling-Act foundation of only partially tested durability, notwithstanding the confirmed operational fact of its issuance and five-year term.
Bulgaria introduced a wholly new gambling_affiliate_licence class this cycle, administered by the National Revenue Agency and effective 1 August 2026, targeting affiliates who acquire players in exchange for performance-based (CPA/revenue-share) remuneration. The licence carries a five-year validity period and an annual fee of EUR 6,000. Foreign affiliate applicants must appoint a Bulgaria-domiciled authorised representative as a licensing condition. The framework derives from the transitional provisions of the 2026 State Budget Act (State Gazette issue 69) amending the Gambling Act, and is corroborated across three independent trade-press sources. Durability is MIXED: the licence rests on primary budget legislation, but its operative detail sits in transitional provisions rather than a freestanding statutory amendment, so the regime should be read as an enabling act with delegated administrative mechanics rather than fully settled doctrine.