Bulgaria: bookmakers Eurofootball and National Lottery get their licenses revoked after failing to repay public claims

Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has rejected the appeals of private bookmakers Eurofootball and National Lottery against the decisions of the State Commission on Gambling to apply a compulsory administrative measure including the permanent revocation of the licenses held.

The decision of the three panels of the SAC on the cases is final, the court said on Friday, as reported by the Bulgarian News Agency. According to the court, within the time limits set by the SCG, the two companies have failed to take action to repay or secure the overdue public claims established: over BGN 328 million ($171 million) for Eurofootball and close to BGN 19 million ($9.9 million) in the case of National Lottery.

From the evidence in the cases, the SCG had applied a compulsory administrative measure involving a temporary revocation of the license for a period of three months, with an order to take action within the same period to stop the violations, i.e. to repay or secure the overdue public debts to the SCG.

However, this was not done within the statutory period, the SAC said, adding that failure to repay or secure the dues is also grounds for suspension of the companies' licenses.