A gambling website lands on Romania’s blacklist when it accepts Romanian players without a license from ONJN, the National Gambling Office, under OUG 77/2009. The list held 2,881 domains on 25 September 2026, up from 1,393 at the start of 2023. Internet providers must block every listed domain, and since Law 141/2025 licensed B2B suppliers must cut off unlicensed operators too. The only legal way back into the market is an ONJN license.
This guide explains how listing works, what it means for operators, suppliers and players, and what “getting legal” involves in 2026. If you are already planning an application, start with our Romania gambling license overview.
The blacklist dates from 2015
Before 2015, Romanian players used foreign platforms freely. Law 124/2015 introduced the online licensing regime and gave existing remote operators a window to decide whether to apply under the new conditions or leave. ONJN, set up by OUG 20/2013, built the first blacklist of unlicensed domains when licensing began, and has maintained it since.
Bet365, for example, lost the right to operate in Romania in 2015 but was not blacklisted at the time, because it had operated lawfully until then; ONJN said Romanian players could withdraw their balances, which organizers generally return through the deposit channel.
How a site is put on the list
ONJN’s Supervisory Committee decides on listing, based on files from the Office’s control and IT monitoring departments. There are two typical situations.
An unlicensed operator targeting Romania
The site offers Romanian-language content, local payment methods or Romanian marketing. ONJN documents the activity, the Committee orders listing, and providers block the domain. Organizing gambling without a license is also a criminal offense under OUG 77/2009 (imprisonment of one month to one year or a fine, plus confiscation), so listing is often only the first step.
A foreign site that simply accepts Romanian players
Many offshore sites never market in Romania but let Romanian residents register. ONJN test-registers with Romanian identities and cards. A site that accepts them is listed even if it did not target Romania. This is the most common case, and it is the reason the list grows by hundreds of domains at a time: in July 2026 the Committee added about 800 sites in one meeting, using a new tool that detects clone sites reappearing under new domains.
Who has to act on a listing
Internet providers
ISPs take the list from the ONJN website and block access. A provider that fails to block a blacklisted or promoting site faces a fine of RON 50,000 to 100,000.
B2B suppliers and payment providers
Law 141/2025 extended the duty to the supply chain. Software, platform and payment providers licensed under Class 2 must block Romanian access through unlicensed online operators and report to ONJN each month, by the 10th of the following month. A studio or aggregator that keeps feeding a blacklisted brand risks its own license. We explain the supplier side in the ban on Class II suppliers serving unlicensed sites and on the Class 2 (B2B) license page.
Platforms and advertisers
ONJN can now order the removal of illegal gambling content: it issued more than 60 such orders between April 2025 and April 2026, aimed largely at search and social platforms. See how ONJN forced Google and Meta to remove illegal ads.
What happens to players who bet on unlicensed sites
Participating in unlicensed gambling is a contravention punished by a fine of RON 5,000 to 10,000. ONJN has said since 2015 that its priority is prevention rather than mass sanctioning of players, but the fine is real and large-turnover players can also be referred to ANAF on their winnings.
The practical risks are larger than the fine. A player on an unlicensed site has no regulator to complain to, no guarantee of payout, no link to the national self-exclusion register, and no protection if the site disappears with deposits.
Whitelist, blacklist and the gray area
ONJN publishes registers of licensed Class 1 operators and Class 2 suppliers, with license numbers, validity and authorized domains. Every domain an operator uses must be authorized; a licensed brand running an unauthorized mirror is in breach.
A site that appears on neither list is not in a gray zone. It is unlicensed and simply not yet detected, and it carries the same legal risk for operator and player as a listed site.
What a listing means for your business partners
A blacklisting does not stay with the operator. It travels through every contract that touches Romanian traffic.
- Game studios and aggregators. A Class 2 supplier whose content is reachable on a listed domain from Romania is exposed. Aggregators have the hardest job, because they must police every operator on their platform, not only their direct clients.
- Payment providers. Acquirers and e-money institutions serving Romanian players check the ONJN registers before onboarding a merchant. A listing usually ends the relationship.
- Affiliates. Affiliate activity aimed at Romanian players is itself a Class 2 activity. Sending traffic to a blacklisted brand breaches the affiliate’s own license and can lead to its listing. See Class 2 licensing for affiliates.
A supplier’s checklist
- Before signing, check the operator and every domain against the ONJN Class 1 register.
- Put an ONJN-license warranty and an immediate termination right in the contract.
- Geo-block Romania by default for any client that is not on the register.
- Re-check the blacklist after each Supervisory Committee meeting, since listings arrive in batches.
- File the monthly report to ONJN by the 10th, and keep the evidence behind it.
How to get legal
Removal is not automatic and there is no fee that buys a domain off the list. In practice there are two exits.
Option 1: stop serving Romania
Geo-block Romanian IP addresses, close Romanian accounts, return balances, and stop Romanian-language marketing and local payment methods. Document all of it. This is the route for operators who do not plan to enter the market. It does not erase past exposure, so take legal advice before approaching ONJN.
Option 2: obtain an ONJN license
The rules for entering have tightened since 2023:
- Entity. Since OUG 82/2023, a Class 1 operator must be a Romanian company or an EU/EEA/Swiss entity with a Romanian permanent establishment.
- Cost. For online Class 1: €3,500 file analysis and €10,500 issuance, then each year a €300,000 license fee, a €500,000 responsible-gambling contribution and an authorization fee of 30% of GGR with a €480,000 minimum (Law 141/2025), plus a €2,000,000 guarantee (€5,000,000 for online casino).
- Fitness. ONJN reviews shareholders, directors and beneficial owners. A history of unlicensed supply to Romania has to be addressed openly in the file, not discovered by the regulator.
Suppliers and affiliates need a Class 2 license instead, at €45,500 in the first year and €35,000 a year after. Our Class 1 (B2C) license page sets out the full operator process. Crypto and prediction-market platforms are treated the same way: Polymarket is on the list.
How we help
Our in-house avocați review past exposure, plan an exit or market entry, and prepare the ONJN file and the Romanian corporate structure. We do not guarantee a license or a delisting decision; those are ONJN’s calls. Contact us for a confidential assessment.