Bulgarian Casino Shutdown Causes Sport Clubs to Revolt

Almost 600 casino facilities in Bulgaria will be closed down forcibly, which is the recent decision by the Government of this Eastern European country. This was met by the protest by numerous Bulgarian professional sports clubs.

The clubs have stated that these Government’s plans to shut the casinos down across the nation will be a direct threat to their survival and are asking the powers-that-be to reconsider.

Complete Gambling Shutdown Looming

In Bulgaria, major sports teams, such as football champion Ludogorets…

…are funded by gambling companies who are their sponsors. Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Cup winners, and numerous other top-flight and lower division sides in sports such as basketball and volleyball are also dependent of their support.

The plan is to close almost 600 casinos and other betting venues by 2025 in an attempt to battle corruption and reduce gambling in younger people.

At the beginning of June, the nationalist NFSB party, a junior coalition partner in Bulgaria’s centre-right government, has submitted a bill that would ban all casinos except those in five-star hotels in 10 holiday resorts.

A Reaction

Football club Ludogorets has said in a statement that “the changes threaten the existence of many clubs.” The similar sentiment echoed throughout the statements by many other clubs.

Bulgarian Basketball Federation said the gambling law changes would inflict a heavy blow to Bulgarian sport. The Bulgarian Gambling Association said that any changes should be subject to a broad discussion and assessed for their possible impact on industry and the state budget.

Valeri Simeonov, the leader of the NFSB party, said that the plans were merely a step in fighting the pandemic of gambling addiction, after private lotteries were previously banned.

He said that he hopes the party will do a good job in the interest of the Bulgarian society.

Source:

“Bulgarian Sports Clubs Protest Against Plans to Shut Casinos”, europeangaming.eu, June 19th 2020