2024-05-01 23:19:08
Position of “Net Info” EAD regarding the Draft Law amending and supplementing the Law on Gambling, signature 49-454-01-62, received on April 24, 2024, adopted at first reading.
Here is the full text of the position:
DEAR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVES,
I am addressing you on behalf of Net Info EAD (“Net Info”), the largest digital media company in Bulgaria, which daily creates content that informs and entertains a huge number of Bulgarian users. Net Info’s sites are visited by an average of 3 , 43 million real users per month and reach 88% of the Internet users in Bulgaria sinoptik.bg; Vbox7.bg. The company is part of the “Nova Broadcasting Group” EOOD, the leading media and telecommunication operator in Southeast Europe.
As an active participant in the digital advertising market, we are deeply disturbed by the adoption of the first reading of the Gambling Law Amendment Bill, signature: 49-454-01-62 (the “Bill”), introduced by the People’s Representatives Mr. Yordan Tsonev and Ms. Temenuzka Petkova, in the part regarding the ban on gambling advertising in electronic media, including electronic sites.We cannot fail to note the complete lack of dialogue with the interested parties when adopting texts that will have a significant negative effect on digital media registered in Bulgaria.
We have repeatedly pointed out that the Bulgarian digital media, including Net Info, operate under the conditions of overwhelming and unregulated competition with the large platforms Google and Facebook. Annual statistics show that the largest part of advertisers’ investments in the Bulgarian digital advertising market are traditionally directed to social networks – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Viber, etc., which are not subject to legal regulation in Bulgaria. In this sense, the big losers from the complete ban on gambling advertising will be the Bulgarian electronic media and websites. As before, the advertising of gambling games of legal and illegal gambling operators will continue to exist on social networks and on foreign sites that are available in Bulgaria. In practice, the advertising budgets of gambling operators will not disappear, but will be redistributed and fully directed to other players in the digital market – social media, foreign sites, anonymous sites, etc.
It is public knowledge that, at the moment, no sanctions have been imposed for broadcast advertising of gambling games on a digital platform registered in Bulgaria. We are not aware of any public dissatisfaction with the advertising of gambling games on Bulgarian legal internet sites. In this sense, the complete ban, which is imposed regardless of the specific situation and regulatory environment, is puzzling.
Next – Net Info is the digital home of a number of sports events beloved by the Bulgarian public – Gong.bg is one of the leaders in the field of online sports information, providing sports news, analysis, exclusive content, video, games, live scores and more. Here, the Bulgarian audience finds video content from championships such as – Efbet League, Sesame – Cup of Bulgaria, English Premier League, Bundesliga, Formula 1 and many others. The group of “Nova Broadcasting Group” EOOD has already concluded a contract for the broadcast of the matches of the European football championship – UEFA Euro 2024. The exclusive sports content that reaches the audience of “Net Info” completely free of charge requires huge investments, which the Group makes and whose return will be severely limited by the prohibition introduced by the Bill. The lack of an opportunity to share these costs with the gambling operators, who are heavily involved in the financing of world sports, will make it impossible to buy sports rights in the future. What’s more, the changes in the middle of the year will frustrate the fulfillment of commitments already made under licensing and advertising contracts.
DEAR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVES,
We urge you to help organize a discussion with representatives of the media and the gambling industry to discuss the most accurate and effective way to limit gambling advertising, as we believe that a complete ban on advertising will not achieve the objectives set out in the reasons .
We ask that the drafting of the Bill be carried out while respecting the principles of predictability and coherence, which is the only guarantee for a stable economic and media environment.
We do not support making legal changes with a significant economic effect on the media at a key moment for Bulgarian society – a little more than a month before the European and Parliamentary elections.