Bulgaria Awards Sportsbetting License to State-Owned Operator

After laws were revised in 2012 to open up monopoly online sportsbetting market, the country now has a duopoly.

The Bulgarian State Commission of Gambling recently issued the country's second online sportsbetting license to the state-owned operator Sport Toto. The regulator announced on its website that Sport Toto will now be free to host betting on sports as well as horse and dog racing.

This is Bulgaria's second license, with the first being issued to vBulletin in September of last year. As in most parts of the world, internet betting in Bulgaria is very popular.

Online sportsbetting competition new to Bulgaria

Bulgarian gambling laws were revised in 2012 to introduce a comprehensive set of regulations for online gambling. Therefore, the industry is relatively new and the country does not have many domestic online providers. Prior to 2012, Sport Toto had monopoly status as the only legal provider of online betting services.

This changed when vBulletin received a license in 2013, allowing it to enter the market as a competitor. The company had previously operated three land-based betting operations. Many were surprised when vBulletin received a license before the state-owned Sport Toto.

Now that Sport Toto has received an official license, Bulgaria has a duopoly on online sportsbetting.