How gambling addicts can sue operators in Bulgaria. Can this also apply in Romania?
People who have registered in the Bulgarian National Register (for people vulnerable to gambling) can sue licensed operators, if the latter allow them access to the rooms or online. These are the cases that end up in Sofia lawyer Sylvia Petkova’s office. In an interview with HotNews.ro, she talks about what addiction means and how it sometimes leads to criminal consequences. In Romania there is no national register for people who want to self-exclude themselves from gambling, although the law requires a centralized database.
Iulia Roșu, HotNews.ro, 30 June 2024
“Every addict is an addict for life, even if in remission for a very long time. Every bet or gamble is capable of bringing him back to addiction,” explains the lawyer, who is recognized in Bulgaria for her strong views on the criminal treatment of people with addictions.
Sylvia Petkova, 34, a criminal lawyer, specializes in the status and criminal treatment of people who have committed crimes as a result of addiction to alcohol, drugs and/or gambling. The law firm where she works is the only one in Bulgaria dealing with such cases.
In an interview for HotNews.ro readers, lawyer Petkova talks about the criminal consequences of addiction, the laws in Bulgaria on self-exclusion of vulnerable people from gambling, but also about how important it is that both society and the authorities understand addiction for what it is: a chronic disease from which you never escape.
The register of self-excluded people. In Romania it does not exist, despite legislation
Recently, the Bulgarian parliament banned all gambling advertising in the media. But along with this law – which has sparked heated debate in Bulgaria – an amendment was also passed to reduce from two years to 30 days the minimum period during which a player can remove himself from the Bulgarian national register of those who have applied for voluntary exclusion from gambling. An amendment that was inserted “discreetly and secretly” into the new law as it went along, as lawyer Petkova explains, so even the Bulgarian media did not pay attention to it.
36,000 vulnerable people are included in this register created in 2022 by the National Revenue Agency (NRA), the regulator in the field, which obliges gambling operators not to allow them access to physical halls.
In Romania, such a register does not exist, even though two pieces of legislation allow Romanians to exempt themselves from gambling, as an investigation by Snoop.ro showed.
The National Gambling Office, however, did not create this register, despite the deadline of March 31, by which it was supposed to have a centralized database.
More than 2,500 people have tried to use the self-exclusion mechanism in Romania to leave behind the harm caused by gambling. Few succeeded.
The Snoop investigation showed the path of one man, a gambling addict, who tried unsuccessfully to self-exclude himself from several operators. Gambling operators and the National Gambling Office (ONJN) are in breach of the laws that allow him to do so.
Dependence, “a chronic, relapsing disorder”
HotNews: How could an amendment that reduces the minimum period of two years to just 30 days for an addicted person to remove themselves from the register they have joined, precisely to get rid of the addiction, pass?
Sylvia Petkova: This amendment seems to have escaped everyone’s attention, including the Bulgarian media. But Art. 10g, paragraph 5 of the Gambling Act now stipulates that a person who has been added to the register can request to be removed within 30 days of registration. It was quite hard for me to follow how this text ended up in the Law, as it was not present in the original draft. I only found out that it was added during the second reading of the draft in the National Assembly.There is no reason for such an amendment, which begs the question why it was accepted so discreetly and in secret.
How can addicts be affected in this case?
Addiction (including gambling addiction) is defined by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse as “a chronic, relapsing disorder”. This means that, even if the addict realizes the problem and wants to do something about it (such as filling in an application for registration in the Bulgarian Register), the desire to gamble recurs repeatedly.
Every addict is an addict for life, even if in remission for a very long time. Every bet or gamble is capable of bringing him back to addiction. In short, “once an addict, always an addict”. Giving an addict the possibility to change his choice every 30 days will certainly lead to many relapses and therefore severely limit the addiction recovery process.
The consequences of excessive gambling advertising will be seen in the future”
Do you think the new law – banning gambling and betting advertising in the media – will still reduce the number of people with addictions?
It might lead to a reduction in gambling addiction, but in the distant future, as the consequences of excessive advertising over the last 3-4 years are yet to reveal themselves. People who have been “recruited” by excessive gambling advertising are either not yet addicted or, even if they are addicted, have not yet reached their true “peak” of addiction.
In your experience, is there a profile for people who become addicted to gambling?
Addiction does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, nationality, social or financial status or any other individual characteristics. This means that anyone can become addicted. I have met low-income people who spend all their money on gambling. I have also met wealthy people who have bankrupted their businesses because of gambling addiction.
Addicts suing gambling operators
Who are the clients you represent in court? What is the most common situation for gambling addicts?
My law firm is the only law firm in Bulgaria specialized in addiction issues: drugs, alcohol and gambling. Thus, we deal with at least 5 gambling addicts per month. I expect criminal activity related to gambling to increase in the coming years.
Most of our cases concern people who have been illegally allowed to gamble after registering on the National Revenue Agency’s register for “vulnerable (to gambling addiction)”. At the moment, we are conducting two types of cases:
- against licensed gambling operators who allowed a person on the register to gamble;
- against the National Revenue Agency whenever a gambling addict has gambled in an unauthorized online casino.
National Revenue Agency (NRA) in Bulgaria is obliged to monitor illegal gambling websites and to terminate access to their platforms on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. Gambling operators who do not have a license issued by NRA do not have access to the register and therefore do not know who to deny access to.
All cases are still pending, court proceedings are quite slow. For some of our clients, we managed to negotiate an amicable solution with the gambling operators, whereby the operators returned the money that our clients lost while illegally accessing gambling, even though they were added to the register.
What are the most common offenses associated with gambling addiction in the cases you have worked on?
Most clients initially deny the drug or gambling problem. I talk to them about the symptoms of addiction to help them recognize them in themselves. In time, many realize they are addicted and begin psychiatric treatment during the process. Addiction to gambling rarely comes on its own. It is usually preceded by addiction to alcohol or drugs or at least excessive use of these substances.
Some examples from my practice:
- A 22-year-old man, addicted to synthetic cannabinoids and gambling, had six criminal records (four for burglary, one for robbery, and one for drug possession). All offenses were committed to buy drugs. He was given minimum prison sentences and, after his arrest, gave up drugs and gambling.
- A loan consultant forged signatures to take out loans which he spent gambling online. The employer agreed not to press charges if the consultant returned the money.
- A team manager replaced a company’s IBAN with her own IBAN so that client payments would go into her account. She was sentenced to one year in prison for fraud, the minimum penalty required by law.
Is it possible to sue casinos or gambling companies on the grounds that they “addicted me”?
Under Bulgarian law, it is only possible to sue someone if their illegal behavior has caused material or non-material damage. Therefore, anyone who is added to the NRA register can sue a gambling operator if they give a person access to gambling.
But if the gambling operator has not committed illegal behavior, they cannot be held liable for turning someone into an addict. It is similar to holding a liquor store responsible for turning someone into an alcoholic.
It is the responsibility of the state to take effective legal measures to prevent addiction, and the Bulgarian state does not consistently fulfill this task.
Laws on paper, insufficient in practice. Preventive measures
How do you rate the gambling laws in Bulgaria? Are they sufficient to protect vulnerable customers?
On paper the laws are adequate, but in practice they are ineffective. The law allows vulnerable people to register with the National Revenue Agency in order to be banned from gambling. However, the procedure is slow, taking between 10 days and a month, too long for an addict “to abstain”.
In addition, the law considers minors and low-income people vulnerable, obliging the state to protect them. In practice, gambling advertising is ubiquitous, including in places frequented by children, and Bulgaria, as the poorest country in the EU, has many vulnerable citizens exposed to advertisements promising “easy money”.
How should the Bulgarian authorities prevent it: better laws, more limited access, more obligations for operators?
First, speeding up and streamlining the procedure to be added to the Register, so that people who consider themselves vulnerable receive restrictions on gambling as soon as they apply.
Secondly, to adopt rules obliging gambling operators to keep records of each customer’s gambling behavior and to restrict their access when there are reasonable doubts that the person is addicted.
Third, limiting gambling advertising – which is what has happened with the recently passed law, at least in the media.
Fourth, the adoption of customer verification mechanisms in the registration process in online casinos to prevent minors from gambling using someone else’s ID.
Photo: (source: Pexels, CC0)
Subscribe to Cross-border Talks’ YouTube channel! Follow the project’s Facebook and Twitter page! And here are the podcast’s Telegram channel and its Substack newsletter!
Like our work? Donate to Cross-Border Talks or buy us a coffee!
About The Author
