According to Atanas Zafirov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the upcoming adoption of the Euro of the country will significantly help fight illegal gambling, as well as related money laundering.
Zafirov made the comments at the National Centre for Information and Documentation event. A lot of senior political and academic figures attended the event. This includes Deputy Minister of Interior Filip Popov and Milena Temelkova, Council of Rectors chair.
Zafirov says that the plan of the country to join the Eurozone, targeted for January 1 of the following year. It would give a breakthrough in the fight against money laundering generated from the gray sector.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that the membership of Bulgaria in the Eurozone will let it to partner more closely on European Union-wide efforts against illegal gambling operations.
The stricter regulatory of Eurozone would also help the regulator of the country target illicit operations.
Ruling coalition of the government of Bulgaria. It includes the GERB party of Zafirov. It has continuously reaffirmed its commitment to Bulgaria joining the Eurozone as well as the implementation of the Euro.
Nonetheless, some political figures like President Rumen Radev, as well as pro-Russian parties, like Vazrazhdane have strongly opposed wider assimilation with Europe.
Zafirov has spoken numerous times about gambling addiction in Bulgaria and used the event to raise awareness.
He called the problem one of the most serious challenges of their time. It has been added by the minister that the illegal gambling platforms are unregulated and pointed out the lack of regulatory mechanisms to cope with them.
The data says that list of self-excluded individuals of Bulgaria from gambling includes over 40,000 people. Nevertheless, illegal gambling lets many of these people to keep on gambling, as claimed by Rumen Petkov, a former minister. Recently, Petkov stated that 90% of self-excluded individuals keep on using unlawful platforms.
