Bulgaria calls for tighter gambling advertising rules

In Bulgaria, the We Continue the Change party is advocating for more robust regulation of gambling advertising, claiming that the past reforms still allowed loopholes that gambling companies can use in their indirect advertising strategies. We Continue the Change party has been reinforcing its calls for more stringent rules. In July, the party urged the government to implement stronger advertising restrictions in light of the 2026/27 budget. The broadcasts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup raised concerns over loopholes connected to advertising. During the broadcast, gambling companies were known to promote their affiliates and bookmakers, enabling them to achieve the much-coveted prime-time visibility without the necessity of using any direct advertising. As reported by Bulgarian National Radio, We Continue the Change party is calling for the following: An outright ban on any forms of gambling advertising that are not conducted inside the gambling establishments; Limiting the size of gambling logos on any type of adult sportswear to 10cm by 10cm; A ban on product placement for gambling brands; Making the responsible gambling warnings comprise at least 10% of the allowed advertisements; Having the standard warning messages printed in black on white background. Party chairman Assen Vassilev said: We need to seal off the legislative loopholes, such as product placement not being treated as advertising. This is an obvious loophole being used. This also goes for the branding of gambling operators not being treated as advertising when you add ‘League’ at the end of it. When it comes to online advertising, we have a very good example. Currently, the European Union forbids any type of political advertising across all social media, which has led to companies like Facebook and Google to self-regulate in order to remain compliant. Let’s start working in that direction. We’ve spoken to our European MEPs about implementing such an EU-wide measure for gambling as well, so that neither Facebook nor Google can allow online marketing when the user is located in a Member State. The proposals are expected to form part of the wider debate over Bulgaria’s gambling legislation and the effectiveness of the country’s existing advertising restrictions.