By an act of the Minister of Youth and Sports Ivan Peshev, Georgi Tarlekov was dismissed from the post of executive director of the State Enterprise "Bulgarian Sports Totalizer" (DP BST), the press center of the MMC announced. He was also dismissed as a member of the Management Board. Tarlekov's removal from the position is due to the error in the game "Second Toto Chance" - 5 out of 35 and the compromised draw of March 23, 2025.
The commission responsible for conducting the draw is determined by an order of the executive director of the DP BST, and in previous years its participants have been representatives of both the DP BST and the NRA. In recent years, the commissions have been composed only of representatives of the State Enterprise BST, which does not allow for objectivity and transparency in the process of drawing the draws.
The competent institutions have been notified of the case, and teams from the Ministry of Interior are already conducting an inspection to see if a crime has been committed. By order of the Minister of Finance Temenuzhka Petkova, the National Revenue Agency and the State Financial Inspection Agency will conduct an inspection of the State Enterprise “Bulgarian Sports Totalizator“, in accordance with their competences.
Since the time of the compromised draw, Minister Peshev has been in constant communication with Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov.
Minister Peshev has requested a report from the State Enterprise BST to clarify the circumstances surrounding the draw, as a result of which an internal inspection has also been initiated, requiring specific explanations from all employees who participated in the draw. Since this morning, a working group with representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MMS) has also been investigating the case. According to the company, the operator of the machine from circulation 24 of March 23, 2025 resigned this morning.
The measures taken are part of the MMS's commitment to ensuring fair play, to protecting the interests of lovers of games of chance, as well as to maintaining the trust of citizens in the Bulgarian Sports Totalizator.