Bulgaria’s gambling industry opposes plans to raise the minimum age to 21

Bulgaria’s gambling industry has come out against a new proposal that would raise the legal gambling age from 18 to 21.

A draft bill, submitted by a majority group There Are Such People (ITN)it can prevent anyone under the age of 21 from gambling and classifies 18 to 20-year-olds as ‘vulnerable persons’ under the Gambling Act.

The changes will apply to both land-based and online gambling and aim to steer young people towards activities with fewer risks of addiction.

Four major industry bodies, the Gambling Industry Association, the Bulgarian Gaming Association, the Bulgarian Association of Gambling Activities, and the Coalition of Gambling Providers, jointly asked lawmakers in the 51st National Assembly to stop the bill at first reading.

In a letter to the members of Parliament, these groups wrote that: “We insist that this draft should not be considered on its merits and that it should be rejected at the beginning of the study, because it is not compatible with the constitution, economically and socially, and it was prepared without the necessary impact analysis.

The organizations argue that the proposal violates the main principle of the Bulgarian law which guarantees equal rights to all adults from the age of 18.

In particular, organizations note that 18-year-olds in Bulgaria can now vote, sign contracts, control property, marry and own or carry a weapon. Therefore, it is inconsistent to deprive them of the right to gamble while giving these other rights to adults.

The letter states that the introduction of an upper age limit “only for gambling is wrong, it contradicts the principle of equality and creates a dangerous precedent of restricting the rights of the elderly.”

Industry groups also criticized the proposal as a “blind move,” saying it was drafted without data on how removing 18- to 20-year-olds from the regulated market would affect legal gambling revenues, the social system or youth behavior.

In the presentation, the organizations also point out that the draft still refers to the Federal Gambling Commission as a regulator, although that organization was dissolved in 2020, and they describe this as evidence of lack of familiarity with the current law.

The organizations also call this measure unprecedented in European gambling law, although several EU countries, including Belgium, Romania, Lithuania and the Netherlands, have already moved or are proposing to raise the minimum gambling age to 21.

The book concludes that the existing Gambling Act contains sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable people by clearly distinguishing between children and adults.