Bulgaria - the Next Country on the PokerStars Map and an Emerging Force in Poker

Bulgaria had its own mini #BlackFriday last June, with a government blacklist of sports betting sites and online poker room domains. After a few months of uncertainty, new legislation and a change in taxation, the license application procedures were set in motion and the State Commission on Gambling has already issued licenses to PokerStars and Betfair. 

In February 2014 PokerStars became the first Internet poker operator with a Bulgarian license and should launch any time now. While Bulgarians never actually found themselves in the hopeless situation of U.S. poker players, and were not left completely without recourse to online poker and without access to their funds, it will certainly be a relief to be able to play, deposit and withdraw freely again.

@Dimitar Danchev  - Bulgaria's top live money earner - won the 2013 PCA Main Event.

Bulgaria is 11th on the European list of the Rational Group (operating PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the European Poker Tour) which already has gaming licenses for Estonia, Italy, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Isle of Man and Malta. PokerStars Head of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser was reported saying:

“Bulgaria is full of promise; poker is extremely popular in the country. We are looking forward to work with the Gambling Commission so that we can launch as soon as possible.”

This seems to find confirmation in the rather impressive representation of #BGPoker at the #Eureka  and the #EPTVienna. Vienna is a popular destination for East Europeans and they are traditionally numerous to attend EPT events in the friendly and accessible Austrian capital. In fact, as many as 12 Bulgarians made it to Day 2 of the Main Event and 4 started Day 4 when only 50 players were left.

Four Bulgarians were seated at the same table on Day 3: @Simeon Naydenov , @Atanas Kavrakov , @Rumen Nanev , and Ivan Neytchev. As we write two are still playing: WSOP bracelet winner Simeon Naydenov was 3rd in chips at the start of level 22 after eliminating @Ludovic Riehl and Rumen Nanev was 15th out of 30.

GL to all in Vienna and in the regulated online poker market at home and we hope we'll have many occasions to update their player profiles with new tournament cashes in the future!