The Bulgarian sports totalizer has been transformed into a kind of "state within a state", where key positions are held by people close to the ruling party. This opinion was expressed by journalist Georgi Atanasov in a broadcast on the Bulgarian National Radio, commenting on the scandal with the drawing of the number 41 in the Toto 5/35 game.
According to Atanasov, the current scandal has two main aspects - loss of public trust in the conduct of gambling games and doubts about the mechanisms for appointing personnel in the institution.
"There are two accents in the entire Toto 5/35 scandal - loss of trust in both the way the game is conducted and the mechanisms for appointing people to this pyramid, in the good sense of the word," Atanasov told the Bulgarian National Radio.
The journalist described the totalizer as a legal and legitimate financial pyramid that "takes from many and pays to few", but emphasized that the current situation makes people doubt the transparency of the process of drawing the winning numbers.
Atanasov's comment regarding the practice of appointing employees at the Sports Totalizer was particularly critical. He pointed out that this is "a mirror of incompetence and sloppiness" in the country.
"It is a public secret that the Sports Totalizer, where the financial benefits for its managers are quite fat, appoints people who are close to the government," the journalist said.
He noted that in recent years, athletes, football players and celebrities have been appointed to management positions without their expertise in the specific field of the gambling business being clear. According to him, the current problem is probably related to an error by a software or logistics specialist.
"The first job of every new sports minister is to change the board of the Sports Totalizator," Atanasov emphasized.
In his comment to the Bulgarian National Radio, the journalist also touched on the topic of Bulgarians' attitude towards gambling, defining it as "mania".
"Our country is a gambling Klondike of the Balkans and attracts many foreign players," Atanasov noted.
Regarding the incident with the drawing of the number 41 in the 5/35 game, he rejected conspiracy theories, considering them illogical: "If there is a conspiracy, it would be within the 35 numbers, not 41. It is too stupid if the system is blown up in this way."
Georgi Atanasov also touched on another current problem in the sports sphere – the disputed choice of leadership of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, questioning the logic of the situation: "What is the problem with the choice, since it was made by Stefka Kostadinova and her team? That is, they are complaining about their own organization".