Affiliate Marketing in Gambling: Bulgaria’s New Licensing Regime
25 August 2026Affiliate marketing has become an established customer-acquisition model in the online gambling sector. CPA (Cost Per Action), RevShare (Revenue Share) and hybrid models allow gambling operators to work with affiliates, publishers, comparison platforms, influencers and other intermediaries on a performance-based basis.
The regulatory treatment of this activity, however, remains fragmented across Europe. There is no harmonised EU gambling framework and no EU-wide gambling affiliate licence. Gambling remains primarily a matter for Member States, subject to EU law, including the fundamental freedoms under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
Bulgaria has now moved significantly beyond an advertising-only approach. Amendments to the Bulgarian Gambling Act, effective from 1 August 2026, expressly regulate the promotion of gambling games by affiliate operators and introduce a dedicated licensing regime. The reform is important because it places the intermediary itself, and not only the gambling operator or the advertisement, within the regulatory perimeter.
Affiliate Marketing in Bulgaria: Three Practical Implications
The remuneration model can determine whether a licence is required
The commercial terminology used by the industry is not, in itself, determinative for legal classification.
Under the Bulgarian Gambling Act, an affiliate operator is a person other than the gambling organiser that promotes gambling games under an agreement or arrangement in return for remuneration linked to results, including the number of participants attracted, deposits, bets or winnings paid. Advertising, media and technical service providers are distinguished where their remuneration is not linked to those outcomes.
This makes the structure of the remuneration particularly important.
A CPA model may fall within the regime where payment is linked to a qualifying player acquisition or other measurable action. A RevShare model is similarly relevant where remuneration depends on revenue or activity generated by referred players. A hybrid model requires the same substantive analysis: the existence of a fixed component does not necessarily take the performance-linked element outside the regime.
The legal question is therefore not simply what the parties call the arrangement, but what actually triggers payment.
This distinction is also relevant to businesses which describe themselves as advertising agencies, media providers, SEO providers or technology companies. A genuinely fixed-fee service may fall outside the statutory definition of an affiliate operator; a nominally similar arrangement may not, if its remuneration is in substance linked to gambling performance.
Obtaining an affiliate licence does not create a general right to promote gambling through any channel. Affiliate activity must comply with the gambling advertising restrictions in the Bulgarian Gambling Act. Those restrictions prohibit gambling advertising in a number of media and locations, including radio and television programmes, public places, printed publications and electronic media, including internet pages, subject to limited statutory exceptions.
The permitted forms and content of gambling advertising are narrowly defined. The Act regulates, among other matters, where advertising may appear, what information may be communicated and the use of responsible-gambling warnings. Affiliate activity is expressly required to comply with those restrictions.
This creates an important distinction between licensing the affiliate and permitting the marketing activity.
It is particularly relevant to the conventional affiliate model, which is built around conversion-driven content: comparison pages, reviews, rankings, bonus promotions, tracked links, influencer campaigns and other forms of performance content. The commercial effectiveness of these tools does not, by itself, determine whether their use is legally permissible in Bulgaria.
For that reason, affiliate compliance must address not only the affiliate’s legal status but also the content, channel and presentation of the promotion.
The EU framework is fragmented, but the compliance perimeter is widening
There is no EU instrument specifically harmonising gambling affiliate marketing. Instead, the activity is affected by a number of horizontal rules.
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/29/EC) is particularly important. It addresses misleading actions and omissions and requires consumers not to be misled about the commercial nature of content. This is directly relevant to affiliate reviews, rankings, comparison websites and influencer marketing where the publisher receives CPA, RevShare or other remuneration.
The Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) introduces further transparency requirements for online advertising and protections for minors. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive, as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/1808, is relevant to audiovisual commercial communications, including video-sharing and streaming environments. GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive become relevant where affiliate activity involves cookies, tracking links, profiling, retargeting or electronic direct marketing.
The EU gambling-specific framework remains more limited. Commission Recommendation 2014/478/EU provides a policy benchmark for responsible commercial communications concerning online gambling, including protection of minors and the need for identifiable and socially responsible advertising. It is a Recommendation rather than a harmonising legislative instrument.
The result is a regulatory landscape in which the underlying gambling activity is largely governed nationally, while the mechanisms through which consumers encounter and engage with gambling are increasingly influenced by EU consumer, digital, audiovisual and data-protection law.
Implications for Bulgaria
The Bulgarian reform is significant because the promotion of gambling games by affiliate operators is now expressly regulated as an activity under the Bulgarian Gambling Act. The regime applies to Bulgarian and foreign natural and legal persons, including sole traders. Foreign affiliates must designate an authorised representative in Bulgaria with sufficient authority to represent them before Bulgarian authorities and courts as well as third parties.
Licensing and supervision are carried out by the National Revenue Agency (NRA). The NRA maintains public registers of licensed affiliate operators and is empowered to supervise affiliate activity. Applicants must identify the websites, mobile applications, social-media profiles, video platforms and streaming platforms through which gambling games will be promoted, and those channels form part of the licensing record.
This is an important operational change. An affiliate’s digital footprint is no longer merely a commercial matter. It becomes part of the regulated activity.
The financial implications are also material. The new regime provides for a fixed annual state fee of EUR 6,000 and a variable fee of 10% of performance-based commission as per art. 30a of the Bulgarian Gambling Act. The structure is therefore particularly relevant to affiliates operating on CPA, RevShare or hybrid arrangements.
For a performance-based business, regulatory costs must now be built into the commercial model from the outset. The distinction between a fixed-fee marketing arrangement and a performance-linked affiliate agreement may therefore have consequences not only for licensing but also for the economics of the relationship.
The enforcement regime is equally significant. The Bulgarian Gambling Act prohibits both unlicensed affiliate activity and the promotion of gambling in favour of an organiser that does not itself hold the necessary Bulgarian licence. The NRA also has powers to order the blocking of websites, mobile applications, social-media profiles and video or streaming platforms used by unlicensed affiliates.
This means that the principal regulatory risk is not limited to a fine. Non-compliance can affect the affiliate’s ability to operate its digital channels altogether.
The transitional deadline is also now particularly relevant. Existing affiliates with qualifying arrangements as of 1 August 2026 were required to apply for a licence by 15 August 2026. That deadline has now passed. Existing businesses should therefore be assessing whether they fall within the transitional regime and, critically, whether their current activities and promotional channels correspond to the arrangements disclosed to the NRA.
Sanctions and Enforcement
The Bulgarian framework also introduces specific sanctions for affiliate operators.
From 1 August 2026, carrying out gambling promotion through an affiliate operator without the required licence is subject to an administrative sanction of EUR 5,000 to EUR 20,000, while an affiliate operator that promotes gambling in breach of the advertising restrictions under Article 10 may be subject to a fine of EUR 2,000 to EUR 5,000 (for individuals) or an administrative pecuniary sanction of EUR 3,000 to EUR 8,000 (for legal entities) as per art. 105 of the Bulgarian Gambling Act.
In addition, amounts received by an affiliate operator for promoting gambling in favour of an unlicensed gambling operator may be forfeited to the State, and previous sanctions or licence withdrawal may affect the affiliate’s eligibility to obtain a new licence. The framework therefore creates a direct regulatory exposure for affiliates, making licensing, verification of the operator’s authorisation and ongoing compliance with gambling advertising restrictions essential elements of an affiliate marketing model in Bulgaria.
What This Means for Affiliates and Gambling Operators
For affiliates, the first step should be a substantive classification of the business model.
The relevant questions are whether remuneration is linked to player acquisition, deposits, bets, winnings or another measurable performance indicator, which entity receives the commission, which gambling operators are being promoted and through which websites, applications and social-media channels the traffic is generated.
The commercial label is secondary to the contractual substance.
For operators, the new regime means that affiliate management should be treated as part of the wider regulatory framework rather than simply as a marketing procurement function. Operators should be able to verify the licensing status of affiliates, understand the remuneration model, identify the channels being used, monitor promotional content and ensure that affiliates promote only operators and products that are lawfully available in the relevant jurisdiction.
The contractual arrangements should therefore address, at a minimum, the CPA, RevShare or hybrid remuneration model, the relevant performance indicators, approved traffic sources and promotional channels, compliance obligations, content approval, audit rights and termination rights.
This is particularly important because the regulatory risk may arise from the interaction between the parties. An affiliate may be licensed, but its promotion may still breach the advertising rules. An operator may be properly licensed, but its affiliate may not be. A commercial arrangement may be described as a fixed-fee marketing contract while containing a performance-linked element that brings it within the affiliate definition.
The compliance analysis must therefore consider the operator, the affiliate, the remuneration model and the promotional channel together.
Affiliate Marketing Across the EU: A Wider Issue
Bulgaria’s approach also highlights a broader challenge for the European gambling market.
An affiliate may be established in one Member State, contract with an operator in another, operate a website accessible across the EU and target consumers in several jurisdictions simultaneously. There is no single EU gambling licence that resolves those questions.
Under Articles 49 and 56 TFEU, national restrictions affecting cross-border services may engage the principles of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services. The Court of Justice of the EU’s gambling jurisprudence recognises that Member States may impose restrictions for legitimate objectives such as consumer protection, prevention of fraud and prevention of gambling-related harm, provided those restrictions are justified and proportionate.
For affiliates, this creates a fundamental practical problem: digital marketing is inherently cross-border, while gambling regulation remains predominantly territorial.
An affiliate therefore cannot assume that a marketing method lawful in one European jurisdiction will be lawful in another. The same CPA campaign, comparison page or influencer arrangement may have materially different consequences depending on the jurisdiction being targeted.
Gaming and Gambling Are Not the Same Regulatory Category
The distinction between gaming and gambling should also be maintained.
Affiliate marketing for ordinary video games, gaming platforms, subscriptions, hardware or other non-gambling products is not, simply by virtue of being affiliate marketing, subject to the new Bulgarian gambling affiliate licence.
Such activities remain subject to the wider consumer, digital, advertising and data-protection framework. The position may become more complex where products involve loot boxes, randomised rewards, virtual currencies or other gambling-like mechanics, but the legal classification must be assessed by reference to the product and the applicable national law rather than the commercial use of the word “gaming”.
For businesses operating across both sectors, classification should therefore come before marketing strategy.
The Regulatory Impact on the Affiliate Market
Bulgaria’s new regime is significant not simply because it introduces additional requirements for affiliates, but because it places affiliate marketing within the regulatory framework governing gambling activity itself. The commercial arrangements commonly used in the sector, including CPA, revenue-share and hybrid models, therefore need to be considered alongside the licensing status of the operator, the nature and content of the marketing activity, the channels through which it is conducted and the remuneration received by the affiliate.
This is particularly relevant where an affiliate is involved in promoting gambling services to Bulgarian consumers, as the regulatory assessment can no longer be limited to the relationship between the affiliate and the operator or to the compliance of the individual advertisement. The Bulgarian approach reflects a broader regulatory trend across the EU towards greater accountability for participants involved in the digital promotion and distribution of gambling products.
Although the applicable regimes remain fragmented between Member States, affiliates are increasingly being viewed not merely as contractual marketing providers, but as participants whose activities may give rise to independent regulatory obligations and enforcement exposure.
New Balkans Law Office advises Bulgarian and international clients on gambling and gaming regulation, regulatory compliance, AML compliance, consumer protection and cross-border regulatory matters. For enquiries concerning gambling affiliate licensing, CPA, RevShare and hybrid commercial structures, or the regulatory review of affiliate marketing arrangements in Bulgaria and other European jurisdictions, please contact us here: gaming@newbalkanslawoffice.com