Eastern Europe is a growing ground for maturing gaming sites based in this area. So it’s not yesterday’s news that these companies will keep growing their user base easier than the big sharks of the industry. While some major operators restricting access of players from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and Greece, the locals are ready to take over.
If we focus on the demographics we will find that Bulgaria is one of the leaders of the area, by cutting the 15% turnover tax, which was nonsensical. They’ve managed to attract more operators by replacing this enormous fee to a one-off license fee of BGN 100,000 (circa EUR 50,000), along with a 20% tax on the difference made between the bets made and the winnings paid out. This led to a great profit, which the Bulgarian State Gambling Commission (SGC) announced in its half-year report. The total gaming revenue from fees, gaming taxes, fines, and penalties was just under 30 million Bulgarian Lev, or about $20 million. The $20 million in revenue was almost entirely profit considering the SGC reported only about $500,000 in expenses during the same half-year period.
This is why Bulgaria is the starting flag of Eastern Europe, while neighbours still consider the monopoly of government-run agencies.
Taking a peak at Romania, we shall find that there are rumours of freeing up the market. This is due to the election of a German ethnic president who has deep ties with certain leaders of Europe that might give him advises on what to do. The change is awaited in the next 6 months, since many battles will be fought by the Liberals who intend to bring in these kind of investments. Believe it or not, Romania is quite a mature market for sportsbetting, but it hasn’t opened its eye to bringing online operators for licensing. The betting shops that are spread thorough the country belong to Romanian’s with political background senators and their circles of trust. But, here’s an inside news, most of the owners of these chains of sportsbetting shops are under investigation by the National Anticorruption Directorate and are looking ahead to some heavy years in prison in found guilty. Since 100% of their money came from schemes attracted via EU fund dilapidation some of these businessmen/politicians already sold their shares of the companies to operators that are based in Cyprus or Malta.
Nevertheless, the intention of switching to online operators in the area is heavily lobbied since the country provides an excellent base to start local offices with tech trained employees. The internet speed is quite fast aswell, pulling over 1GBps in any home connection. In-Play bets could be one of the key aspects to operate online sports betting websites and live dealer casinos certainly can prosper aswell. While mobile users enjoy 4G internet connections countrywide, mobile gaming can also be applied. It’s just a matter of time, but it’s certainly going to be and area that’s going to have a large online gaming base.
Be sure to check out my next edition of Eastern Europe Gaming Report, we will bring you a special edition which will focus on Hungarian, a story for which many internet users worldwide raised their eyebrows. It’s not going to be easy to read without getting mad and see how the right to use the internet has received a heavy hit.
