About: http://data.cimple.eu/news-article/04f40519fe03a677625464538b74cfedfb2bbb1cac82d9f399432012

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About: http://data.cimple.eu/news-article/04f40519fe03a677625464538b74cfedfb2bbb1cac82d9f399432012 Goto Sponge NotDistinct Permalink

An Entity of Type : schema:NewsArticle, within Data Space : data.cimple.eu associated with source document(s)

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rdf:type	schema:NewsArticle
schema:articleBody	Bulgarian lawmakers moved on Wednesday to ban private lotteries and bring the industry under state control as prosecutors indicted a gaming mogul -- one of the country's most powerful businessmen -- for organised crime. Changes to a gaming bill passed by parliament in a first reading Wednesday envisage making the state-run Bulgarian Sports Totalizator the only operator allowed to organise lottery games. Bulgarian lawmakers wants to boost money for sports funding and limit the sales of lottery scratch tickets, which can be found even in Bulgarian grocery stores. "We are talking about huge turnovers -- more than 600 million leva (300 million euros, 330 million dollars)," said nationalist lawmaker Valery Simeonov, who proposed the changes. The move follows a probe into alleged tax evasion by Bulgaria's two biggest private lottery companies, which showed they had used a loophole in legislation to avoid paying over 210 million leva in lottery fees to the state. Police special forces on Wednesday raided offices of the two companies, owned by gaming mogul Vasil Bozhkov, as well as Bozhkov's home. Sixteen people, including eight members of the commission regulating gambling, were arrested. "Vasil Bozhkov was indicted in absentia on seven counts, including as a leader of an organised crime group, for extortion and for an attempt to bribe an official," Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev told journalists. Geshev called Bozhkov "an oligarch" adding that "he had fled Bulgaria" and will be tracked down with a European arrest warrant. Bozhkov had earlier told several Bulgarian media outlets that he was abroad on work and not hiding and that nobody had contacted him in relation to the raids. His company Nove Holding issued a statement saying that the raids and the charges "aim to take a legal business by force". Bulgaria has long mulled better regulations for the lucrative sector as thousands of people have been gripped by a craze for scratchcards in recent years. Observers have raised alarm over the dangers of a widespread gambling addiction in the EU's poorest member state, especially among the young. ds/jza/pma
schema:headline	Bulgaria moves to ban private lotteries, gaming mogul charged
schema:mentions	Kuomintang Extortion Scratchcard Gambling Organized crime Nove Special forces Bulgaria Tax evasion Bulgarian lev Lottery European Union Stefan Bozhkov Problem gambling Ukrainian oligarchs Ivan Geshev European Arrest Warrant The Move
schema:author	http://data.cimple.eu/organization/1f0054d541e000623a2c1e561a247c073ef6328e8be9ffafda7b3fcd
schema:datePublished	2020-01-29 (xsd:date)
http://data.cimple...sPoliticalLeaning	other political leaning
http://data.cimple...logy#hasSentiment	positive sentiment
http://data.cimple...readability_score	86 (xsd:integer)
http://data.cimple...tology#hasEmotion	anger

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