Bulgaria’s gambling market is on track to bring the local government a much larger payday than it collected last year if current trends persist.

Last week, Angel Iribozov, chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Producers and Organizers of the Gaming Industry (BTAPOI), announced that the government had derived BGN174.4m (US$101.6m) in taxes and fees from locally licensed gambling operators in the first nine months of 2018.

The sum is BGN30m higher than was collected at the same point last year, and Iribozov suggested the full-year figure will come in 13-15% higher than the total BGN200.5m the government earned in all of 2017.

Iribozov said between BGN28.5m of this amount in 9M18 – 16.5% of the total – was derived from the country’s online gambling licensees, of which there are now 12. These primarily include sites belonging to local offline operators, but also such recognizable international names such as Bet365, Betfair, GVC Holdings’ Bwin brand and The Stars Group’s flagship brand PokerStars.