Bulgarian Ministry of Finance Unveils New Gaming Commission Panel

The Bulgarian Ministry of Finance has appointed Georgi Yordanov as temporary chairman of the country’s State Gambling Commission (SCC) following the resignation of Alexander Georgiev.

Yordanov most recently served as Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Finance, a role he had held since November 2014. Prior to this, he was head of the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Environment and Water and also spent time as a state inspector at the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Finance. Earlier in his career, he was Director of the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and Chief Secretary of the National Plant Protection Service.

The appointment comes after Georgiev, who was named chairman of the SCC in April 2019, resigned from the role last week following his detention by police in relation to an ongoing investigation into gambling mogul Vasil Bozhkov.

In addition to the temporary appointment of Yordanov, the Ministry of Finance has made several other changes to the composition of the SCC. Stoyan Stoyanov, Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Justice; Paun Ilchev, acting chairman of the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology; Krasimir Boyadzhiev, head of the Special Investigation Unit, Control Directorate at the National Revenue Agency; and Emil Zahariev, director of the Specialised Directorate at SANS, will now all work with the regulator.