Bulgaria proposes new levy on affiliates

• Bulgaria’s 2026 budget, approved by the Cabinet on 1 July, proposes a formal licensing regime for gambling affiliates working with regulated operators for the first time.
• Affiliates would face a fixed €6,000 annual fee plus a variable 10% tax on commissions earned from promoting gambling activity.
• Officials expect the new levy to add €100m in annual tax revenue as the government works to close a widening budget deficit.

Bulgaria’s National Assembly is preparing to vote on the country’s delayed 2026 budget, which introduces licensing and tax requirements for gambling affiliates for the first time.

The bill, approved by the Cabinet on 1 July, follows months of political deadlock over the country’s finances. Officials estimate the new levy could add €100m to annual tax revenue.

Deficit drives reform

The 2026 budget, presented by Finance Minister Galab Donev, projects a deficit of 5.7 per cent of GDP, equivalent to roughly €7.2bn.

Planned revenues of €49.5bn fall short of projected expenditure of €56.8bn. Opposition parties, including GERB and Democratic Bulgaria, have criticised the target, which sits well above the EU’s three per cent limit.

Bulgaria operated under 2025 budget rules for most of the year after the previous cabinet collapsed before its own spending plan passed. To help close the gap, lawmakers are proposing a licensing regime for affiliates working with regulated operators, paired with a new levy on their earnings.

New levy explained

Gambling affiliates are third-party marketers that direct players to licensed operators in exchange for commission, typically structured as cost-per-acquisition fees or a share of the player’s future revenue.

The sector spans comparison and review sites, tipster blogs, SEO-driven content hubs, paid search, and influencer or social media partnerships that funnel traffic toward sportsbooks and casinos. Bulgaria’s proposal brings this largely unregulated marketing layer under a licensing framework for the first time.

The levy itself has two components. Affiliates would pay a fixed €6,000 annual tax, plus a variable 10 per cent tax on commissions earned from activities that measurably promote gambling. The government says the structure aims to increase tax revenues and curb evasion in a segment that has largely sat outside Bulgaria’s licensing regime.

The budget process stalled for months under a caretaker government lacking the authority to pass full-year spending plans. That changed in April, when Rumen Radev’s party secured a parliamentary majority in snap elections, clearing the way for the cabinet to finalise the plan.

Regulator in flux

The proposal lands amid upheaval at the National Revenue Agency (NRA), the body responsible for gambling oversight.

Director of Gambling Policy Alexander Popov left his post on 18 June. Opposition MP Vladislav Panev has alleged that Ginka Panaretova, a lawyer with past ties to gambling operator Inbet, is being lined up to replace him, a claim the NRA has not directly addressed.

Gambling advertising has also turned contentious. Bulgarian National Television faced criticism over clips aired during FIFA World Cup broadcasts, which the broadcaster maintains were sponsorship-related rather than direct gambling promotion. Bulgaria has banned gambling advertising across television, radio and most public spaces since 2024, with billboards additionally barred within 300 metres of schools and other institutions serving children.

Child welfare group the National Children’s Network has urged lawmakers to go further, calling for a ban on gambling-related product placement and the use of gambling trademarks in sports competition names.

If passed, the budget would put Bulgaria ahead of several EU peers still relying on operator-side rules alone to police affiliate marketing, closing a gap that has let commission-based promotion grow largely untaxed and unlicensed.

Affiliates active in the market will need to weigh the compliance cost of the new fee structure against the risk of losing access to Bulgaria’s regulated operators altogether, a decision that could reshape which partners survive the transition and which exit the market entirely.