Romania’s National Office for Gambling (ONJN) has accelerated various gambling reforms as it pushed towards digitising oversight and cracking down on unlicensed operators.
The regulator’s activity report, published on Monday also emphasised its establishment of formal funding mechanisms for problem gambling treatment.
The period covered in the report was April 2025 to April 2026.
Strengthened black‑market enforcement
Legislative amendments via Law no. 141/2025 expanded ONJN’s authority, enabling the regulator to issue orders for the removal of illegal gambling content and to demand monthly reports from class II operators detailing player attempts to access unlicensed online platforms.
Additionally, approved amendments to the Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) 82/2023 in 2024 led to slot machines only appearing in a locality that has a population of more than 15,000 people.
Over the past year, ONJN has reportedly issued more than 60 illegal content removal orders and blacklisted over 300 unlicensed gambling websites.
ONJN have launched investigations into alleged gross gaming revenue (GGR) manipulation and unpaid tax discrepancies. The regulator has filed 70 criminal complaints and revoked 60 licences in response to these infringements.
First formal funding stream for prevention and treatment
For the first time, ONJN this last year allocated state funding to responsible‑gambling initiatives through the new “Aware and Free” programme. The programme commanded a budget of €5 million ($5.8 million) in non‑reimbursable funding.
ONJN divided the financing into three categories: NGO‑led prevention and protection projects, infrastructure development for addiction treatment centres managed by public authorities, and support for research activities.
The funding represented a conversion of previously unallocated resources into tangible support for vulnerable gamblers. Implementation of the programme will commence in August and run to December.
Self‑exclusion and enhanced player protection
At the start of the current mandate, ONJN inherited over 30,000 unresolved self-exclusion requests. The regulator now operates a system covering approximately 54,000 self-excluded individuals.
The regulator drafted an Emergency Ordinance aiming to harmonise self-exclusion procedures across both land-based and online gambling operators.
Under this proposal, ONJN would administer a unified self-exclusion framework enforcing mandatory ID verification at venues and cooling-off periods. It would also mandate penalties including fines up to 100,000 lei and licence suspensions for non-compliance.
This ordinance awaits government approval and has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance.
Digital register and device traceability
Also part of ONJN’s reforms was the launch of a public digital register of physical gaming devices. The cloud‑native system, claimed to be the first of its kind in the Government Private Cloud, provided detailed data on every registered gaming machine, including location, ownership, licence validity, and manufacturer.
To enhance transparency and enforcement, each gaming device is now required to display a QR code linking to its register entry and be equipped with mandatory geolocation tracking.
ONJN presented this register and traceability system as a unique European mechanism. It formed part of a broader package of four IT projects aimed at automating operator monitoring, reporting processes, and internal control functions.
The regulator candidly acknowledged initial “serious shortcomings” in effective oversight, identified in earlier reports by the Romanian Court of Accounts (2023–24). This mainly stemmed from a lack of digital infrastructure and inability to access operators’ server data.
Control activities and sanctions
During the reporting period, ONJN conducted around 11,000 control activities, issued roughly 10 million lei in fines, disabled or confiscated 260 gaming devices, and filed 70 criminal complaints.
Breakdown of enforcement by sector reveals:
- Land-based operators: ~7,000 control activities, approximately 8.1 million lei ($1.8 million) in fines.
- Remote (online) operators: ~3,500 control activities, roughly 1.2 million lei ($276,000) in fines.
- Other associated entities: ~500 control activities, about 800,000 lei ($184,000) in fines.
President of ONJN, Vlad-Cristian Soare said of the reforms: “This year has shown that change is possible. It does not come easily and is not done without resistance. There have been roadblocks, opposition, and attempts to slow down essential projects, both from within and without.”
He added “the direction has been maintained, the projects have continued, and the investigations and initiatives initiated must be followed through.”
Romania was recently named as part of the Balkan Gaming Federation, a new West Balkans-focused collective. It was established to coordinate policy, compliance and commercial activities across the region without replacing existing national bodies.
Kathryn Evans
Kathryn covers bitesize breaking news with a primary focus on EMEA and US legislation. A proud North Walian, fluent Welsh speaker and lifelong Wrexham FC fan – long before Hollywood came calling.
