Reforming the gambling sector in Romania: What’s next?

Romania

Recently, the Romanian government and the National Office for Gambling have adopted various pieces of secondary legislation to implement the new gambling rules that entered into force on 26 February 2016. This secondary legislation affects traditional gambling as well as online gambling and focuses on:

  • enacting standard forms and registers to be used in relation to various types of gambling activities (e.g. casino games, traditional betting, slot machines, poker-type games);
  • regulating conditions for connecting slot machines via autonomous IT systems and ensure a centralised data system in Romania;
  • approving reporting obligations applicable to organizers of distance gambling. The reporting obligations regard: profits; jackpot configuration; significant events (such as failures to connect to the gambling platform, registered gains above a certain margin etc.); information on gambler exclusions; gambler account adjustments; promotions/loyalty bonuses; software update management; and mirroring servers; and
  • enacting mandatory requirements regarding certification and auditing of distance gambling systems.

Gambling operators should carefully review the new regulations to determine whether the licensing and authorisation requirements apply to them. Under particular conditions of Romanian legislation, some gaming activities are excluded from licensing or authorisation requirements because they do not qualify as gambling. On the other hand, certain ancillary activities related to gambling such as sale, lease production, distribution and maintenance of gambling activities are now subject to licensing or authorisation requirements.



After the new laws were enacted in February 2016, the national regulatory authority has been quite active in monitoring gambling operators’ compliance. The authority has sanctioned various gambling operators - who are now on an official blacklist - for their failure to observe licensing and authorisation requirements. Sanctioning decisions and a list of blacklisted gambling operators/gambling platforms are publicly accessible on the national authority’s website.



For an overview of the recent legislation affecting the gambling sector in Romania, please refer to our previous article.



If you would like more information on the recent gambling legislation and how it affects your business, please contact Ana-Maria Nistor Laura Capataor .