{"id":125639,"date":"2020-01-30T10:22:34","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T18:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=125639"},"modified":"2020-01-30T12:42:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T20:42:35","slug":"bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgarian Gambling Czar and Alleged Criminal Mastermind Vasil \u2018The Skull\u2019 Bozhkov Charged with Extortion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bulgarian gambling mogul known as \u201cThe Skull\u201d has been charged in absentia with organizing a crime group, extortion, and attempted bribery by authorities in the Balkan state.<\/p>\n

\"Vasil
Bozhkov is nicknamed \u201cThe Skull\u201d for his distinctive facial bone structure and possibly for other reasons too. (Image: Radio Free Europe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vasil Bozhkov is one of Bulgaria\u2019s richest men, with a fortune estimated at $1.5 billion. He has interests in casinos, hotels, lotteries, and media outlets, and owns over 30 companies. These include Levski Sofia, the country\u2019s most successful soccer team. He is also reportedly an avid collector of rare Thracian artifacts.<\/p>\n

But he was referred to in a 2009 US diplomatic report leaked by the Wikileaks<\/a> website as \u201cBulgaria’s most infamous gangster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report, authored by then-US ambassador to Bulgaria John Ordway, suggested that Bozhkov was slowly moving out of organized crime to concentrate on his legitimate business endeavors. But it alleged he still had a hand in \u201cmoney laundering, privatization fraud, intimidation, extortion, racketeering, and illegal antique dealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Skull Dials In<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Bulgaria\u2019s chief prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, the charges against Bozhkov relate to financial improprieties surrounding the country\u2019s largest private lottery, \u201cthe National Lottery,\u201d which is owned by the billionaire. Authorities are trying to trace $118 million in missing lottery taxes and fees.<\/p>\n

Around 16 officials, among them the head of the country\u2019s gambling commission, were arrested last week when prosecutors raided the National Lottery’s headquarters and those of other companies owned by Bozkhov.<\/p>\n

But Bozkhov himself appears to have fled Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

We will make every effort to take Bozhkov to court,” Geshev told Reuters.<\/em> “This is another oligarch who has fled Bulgaria. I do not know where Bozhkov is, but I know he is not in the country.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later, \u201cthe Skull\u201d (so called for his distinctive facial bone structure) called in to local TV station, bTV, from what he described as a \u201cnon-EU country\u201d to angrily protest his innocence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody was looking for me, I do not know about any charges,\u201d said Bozhkov, translation by Reuters<\/em>. \u201cI am not a criminal … I am ready to show up immediately if they want me. I have something to say, in my opinion there is a gross violation of the laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Everything is paid for in adherence with the law,” he added.<\/p>\n

Private Lotteries Banned<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On Thursday, Bulgarian parliament voted to ban private lotteries and revoke the National Lottery\u2019s license immediately.<\/p>\n

Bulgaria is the poorest state in the European Union and the most corrupt. There\u2019s a common saying: \u201cEvery country has the Mafia. But in Bulgaria, the Mafia has the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU has long pressured the country to eliminate malfeasance and Mafia influence among its governing officials and to reform its judiciary.<\/p>\n

But the charges against Bozhkov — once considered untouchable — suggest that many lawmakers are ready to dismantle the so-called \u201cMafia state<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Bulgarian gambling mogul known as \u201cThe Skull\u201d has been charged in absentia with organizing a crime group, extortion, and attempted bribery by authorities in the Balkan state. Vasil Bozhkov is one of Bulgaria\u2019s richest men, with a fortune estimated at $1.5 billion. He has interests in casinos, hotels, lotteries, and media outlets, and owns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":125643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBulgarian Gambling Czar Vasil Bozhkov Charged with Extortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vasil Bozhkov, the Bulgarian gambling kingpin also known as The Skull, has been charged in absentia over improprieties surrounding his lottery company.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bulgarian Gambling Czar Vasil Bozhkov Charged with Extortion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vasil Bozhkov, the Bulgarian gambling kingpin also known as The Skull, has been charged in absentia over improprieties surrounding his lottery company.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T18:22:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T20:42:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/\",\"name\":\"Bulgarian Gambling Czar Vasil Bozhkov Charged with Extortion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-30T18:22:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-30T20:42:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Vasil Bozhkov, the Bulgarian gambling kingpin also known as The Skull, has been charged in absentia over improprieties surrounding his lottery company.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Bozhkov is nicknamed \u201cThe Skull\u201d for his distinctive facial bone structure and possibly for other reasons too. (Image: Radio Free Europe)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bulgarian Gambling Czar and Alleged Criminal Mastermind Vasil \u2018The Skull\u2019 Bozhkov Charged with Extortion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bulgarian Gambling Czar Vasil Bozhkov Charged with Extortion","description":"Vasil Bozhkov, the Bulgarian gambling kingpin also known as The Skull, has been charged in absentia over improprieties surrounding his lottery company.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bulgarian Gambling Czar Vasil Bozhkov Charged with Extortion","og_description":"Vasil Bozhkov, the Bulgarian gambling kingpin also known as The Skull, has been charged in absentia over improprieties surrounding his lottery company.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-01-30T18:22:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-30T20:42:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/","name":"Bulgarian Gambling Czar Vasil Bozhkov Charged with Extortion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-30T18:22:34+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-30T20:42:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Vasil Bozhkov, the Bulgarian gambling kingpin also known as The Skull, has been charged in absentia over improprieties surrounding his lottery company.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/the-skull.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"Bozhkov is nicknamed \u201cThe Skull\u201d for his distinctive facial bone structure and possibly for other reasons too. (Image: Radio Free Europe)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bulgarian-gambling-czar-vasil-bozhkov-charged-with-extortion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bulgarian Gambling Czar and Alleged Criminal Mastermind Vasil \u2018The Skull\u2019 Bozhkov Charged with Extortion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}