Published on 12 December 2022

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 14181/21 NATIONAL LOTTERY AD and Others against Bulgaria lodged on 27 February 2021 communicated on 21 November 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The first applicant is a shareholding company, and the other applicants are some of its shareholders.

Until 2020 the first applicant was one of the largest gambling operators in Bulgaria. It held in particular two gambling licences, issued under the Gambling Act in 2019 and in the beginning of 2020.

In two decisions dated 14 February 2020 the State Gambling Commission (hereinafter “the Commission”) ordered the first applicant to pay in total about 19 million Bulgarian levs (BGN) – the equivalent of about 9.7 million euros (EUR) – in gambling fees retroactively due for the period from 2014 to January 2020. The Commission was of the view that during these years the company had not been paying the full amounts due, wrongly relying on a legal provision allowing lesser fees.

The first applicant applied for the judicial review of the above decisions. The proceedings were still pending by the time of the latest information from the applicants received by the Court in July 2022.

In the meantime, the Commission held that its decisions of 14 February 2020 were subject to preliminary enforcement; this finding became final on 11 March 2020, after being upheld by the national courts. On 13 March 2020, noting that the sums due had not been paid, the Commission suspended the first applicant’s gambling licences described above; the measure, coupled with the freezing of assets of the applicant decided upon by the National Revenues Agency in February 2020, resulted in the cessation of its related business activities. Since the first applicant remained unable to pay, its gambling licences were revoked in two decisions of the Commission of 22 June 2020 (one of which became final on 29 July 2022). The first applicant has since become the subject of insolvency proceedings.

The applicants complain under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 about the decisions of 14 February 2020 and their consequences for the first applicant. They point out that the company’s gambling licences were revoked and its assets were frozen, resulting in the cessation of its business, despite the decisions of 14 February 2020 not having yet entered into force. The applicants complain furthermore under Article 18 of the Convention that the measures described above were not aimed at collecting unpaid gambling fees, but at destroying the businesses of the company’s main shareholder, Mr Vasil Bozhkov (also an applicant), and at “eliminating him from the economic, political and public life” in Bulgaria.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Has there been an interference with the applicants’ peaceful enjoyment of possessions, within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1? If so, was that interference in compliance with the requirements of that provision?

2. Were the restrictions imposed by the State in the present case, purportedly pursuant to Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, applied for a purpose other than those envisaged by that provision, contrary to Article 18 of the Convention?

APPENDIX

No.

Applicant’s Name

Year of birth/ registration

Nationality/State of registration

Place of residence/ company seat

1.NATIONAL LOTTERY AD

2016Bulgarian

Sofia

2.Vasil Krumov BOZHKOV

1956Bulgarian

Dubai, UAE

3.NOVE DEVELOPMENT EOOD

2015Bulgarian

Sofia

4.NOVE INTERNAL EOOD

2013Bulgarian

Sofia