Bulgaria’s parliament has approved legislation banning private lotteries while the country’s gambling regulator has issued a warning regarding its licensees’ tax obligations.

On Friday, Bulgaria’s parliament approved the second reading of legislation that amends the country’s Gambling Act to ban private lottery operators. The bill is expected to be published in the State Gazette next week, after which it will officially take effect.

Once enacted, all lottery games not operated by the state-run Bulgarian Sports Totalizator must cease their operations within 90 days. The new rules don’t apply to state-licensed private operators offering sports betting (land-based or online), slot machines, raffles, bingo or keno. A proposal to ban all gambling advertising failed to garner enough support and was not adopted.

The bill was crafted after the government concluded that private lottery operators had underpaid their taxes to the tune of US$118m over the past six years. This led to last month’s indictment of Vasil Bozhkov, the nation’s largest private gambling operator, who was arrested in the United Arab Emirates this week and is currently awaiting extradition.