Only 3 weeks after Bwin opened its doors in Bulgaria, with Bet365 Poker the next one of our partner poker rooms obtained a license in Bulgaria.
After an appeal against the State Gambling Commission (SGC), the Bulgarian court has decided to put Bet365 back on the countries list of officially licensed online gambling operators.
At the time the Bulgarian market has opened to international gambling businesses, most of the companies and their domains ware put on the countries online gambling blacklist.
To be removed from that list, the companies had to apply for an official gambling license. The real legal problem arose when Bet365 was awarded the license.
The SGC claimed that Bet365 had broken the restrictions by providing their service to the Bulgarian market before they ware officially licensed. Due to that, the SGC immediately canceled the license Bet365 got.
Did the SGC try to restrict competition?
According to Bet365, the decision SGC made was motivated by a wish to eliminate the competition on the market.
Local news reports claim, that one third of the 15 awarded licenses is in the hands of a single Bulgarian owner. In addition, two of the 10 remaining companies ownerships can be traced back to that one person.
To ensure the legality of the court process, Bet365 raised the issue with the EU court. The EU sent observers to oversee the legal process and prevent market manipulation.
Although the details of the ruling remain unknown, the decision is quite obvious. Bet365 now has an official license to offer its services in this European country.
Bet365 joins PokerStars, Betfair and Bwin
When Bulgaria opened their market to foreign companies, their taxes ware set extremely high. So high that most of the companies would probably not make any profit for their efforts.
Things changed when Bulgarian state officials remarkably decided to reduce the tax rates.
The new tax laws made the country more appealing for the big offshore gambling companies. PokerStars and Betfair were the first companies to legally enter the market and now Bwin and Bet365 are joining them.
