General technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and the games by other electronic means of communication

Draft Decree of the Council of Ministers on the adoption of a Regulation on the general technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and the games by other electronic means of communication

Currently, the matter regulated in the draft Regulation is regulated by the General technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for remote gambling, adopted by the State Commission on Gambling, published in the State Gazette (SG) No 58 of 2013, which were issued on the basis of the Gambling Act, in its version before the amendments published in the State Gazette (SG) No 69 of 2020.

According to the intended amendments, these public relations will be governed by a regulation of the Council of Ministers, adopted at the proposal of the Minister for Finance pursuant to Article 17(3)(1) of the Gambling Act (GA), which led to the preparation of this draft.
The provision of Article 17(3)(4) of the Gambling Act provides for the issue of a regulation on both the general mandatory technical requirements for the systems for gambling and gaming equipment supervision and the general technical and functional requirements for the gaming software and the communication equipment for online betting and the games by other electronic means of communication. The significant differences in the requirements for these processes of organising online gambling compared to organising terrestrial gambling,
which are mostly related to the differences in the functions of the central computer systems and the requirements for the gaming software, have led to separating the matter set out in that provision into two regulations - a regulation laying down the general technical and functional requirements for gaming software and the communications equipment for online betting and games by other electronic means of communication, proposed in this draft, and a regulation on the general mandatory technical requirements for the systems for gambling and gaming equipment supervision.
The draft Regulation proposes to determine the minimum requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and games by other electronic means of communication, and the minimum obligatory content of the rules which gambling organisers must present for approval to the Executive Director of the National Revenue Agency pursuant to Article 17(1)(4) of the Gambling Act regarding the technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and games by other electronic means of communication, and more specifically the technical and functional requirements for the central computer system, related to the participants in gambling and as regards the gaming software; the additional requirements for the games on virtual gaming equipment; the records, logs and data storage; random number generator; the online games where a gaming table in a casino is used as random number generator; requirements for information security and access control. The implementation of the Regulation will ensure the fulfilment of the general technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and games by other electronic means of communication.
The changes in the gambling regulation in the Republic of Bulgaria, adopted by the Act amending the Gambling Act, published in the State Gazette (SG) No 69 of 2020, have been included in this draft. Thus, throughout the Regulation, the acts and the actions of the gambling regulator have been imposed on the Executive Director of the National Revenue Agency as powers. References to the provisions of the Gambling Act, as amended, have been introduced. Any inconsistencies and incompleteness in terminology have been eliminated.
The proposed Regulation on the general technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and games by other electronic means of communication leads to the alignment of the secondary legislation with the current version of the Gambling Act, thus ensuring the possibility to properly determine the general technical and functional requirements for gaming software and communications equipment for online betting and games by other electronic means of communication.
Pursuant to the provision of Article 26(3) of the Legal Acts Act, the draft act provides for public consultations.
The draft Decree of the Council of Ministers, the report thereto, the partial preliminary impact assessment and the opinion of Directorate “Modernisation of the Administration”, which is part of the administration of the Council of Ministers, have been published on the website of the Ministry of Finance and on the Public Consultation Portal for 30 days.