On 30 October 2026 Romania’s National Office for Gambling (ONJN) changed the make-up of the working group that drafts gambling legislation and gave it a broader brief: review the whole body of rules that governs the Romanian market and prepare a new legal framework to replace it. It is the first legislative project announced by president Valentin-Ioan Tomescu, who took over the regulator in August.
ONJN’s message is that amending the law article by article, each time a problem surfaces, has run its course. It wants what it calls a new legislative architecture: rules that are clear and predictable for licensed operators and enforceable by the regulator.
What the working group will do
The group’s task is to analyze and cross-check the legislation on gambling in Romania and identify:
- provisions that contradict each other;
- rules that overlap;
- articles that are outdated and need replacing.
The stated objective is to end the fragmentation that has built up since 2009 and give the market a single, coherent framework.
What ONJN did not publish matters as much. There is no timetable, no list of members and no draft. ONJN has not said whether the result will be a new gambling law or a consolidated rewrite of OUG 77/2009, the emergency ordinance that has governed Romanian gambling since 2009 and is the legal basis for every Class 1 and Class 2 license today.
Why ONJN wants a new framework
OUG 77/2009 has been amended so often that its core rules now sit across several acts. In the last two years alone:
| Act | In force | What it changed |
|---|---|---|
| Law 141/2025 | 1 August 2025 | Remote authorization fee from 21% to 30% of GGR, annual minimum from €400,000 to €480,000; flat €300,000 license fee; stronger blacklist powers; geolocation, blocking and monthly reporting for Class 2 suppliers |
| Law 239/2025 | 18 December 2025 | Wider ban on Class 2 suppliers serving operators that target Romania without a Class 1 license |
| OUG 7/2026 | 25 February 2026 | Municipal approval and an annual local permit for slot halls and betting shops |
Each act fixed one problem and added a layer. Councils have since used OUG 7/2026 to phase out gaming halls in Iași county and in Timișoara; see how Romania lost most of its slot machines without banning them. Licensees work with a consolidated text that changes faster than the methodological norms in HG 111/2016 are updated.
The backdrop: a year of enforcement
The review closes a turbulent year for the regulator. Under Vlad-Cristian Soare, president from April 2025, ONJN focused on revenue owed to the state:
- In February 2026 cross-checks of declarations against payments found a gap of about RON 18 million at one slot operator and about RON 5 million at one online operator, mostly for 2024.
- Winnings data from operators’ mirror servers, which ONJN could fully access only from the start of 2026, showed prize patterns that, according to ONJN, suggested some licensed operators were reducing their GGR tax base.
- ONJN sent ANAF about RON 100 million in tax differences from online operators that applied the wrong rate for 2023 and 2024. The land-based side of this dispute is covered in ONJN’s slot-machine tax reassessment.
Soare argued publicly in March 2026 that the real fix was a new gambling law that would strengthen supervision and remove the advantage of grey- and black-market operators. The new working group now has that goal.
Enforcement ran in parallel. In April a Romanian court rejected Polymarket’s appeal against its blacklisting. In March ONJN filed a criminal complaint against a Class 2 licensed affiliate accused of sending players to unlicensed sites, the first test of the ban on serving unlicensed operators. On 31 July the Supervisory Committee added about 800 domains to the blacklist in a single decision, more than double its previous record, using a new tool that detects clone sites; see how sites get on the ONJN blacklist. In August ONJN sanctioned TG Malta Limited, operator of totogaming.ro, over an advertising campaign that it said breached the principle of responsible participation.
A change at the top
On 21 August 2026 interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan dismissed Soare without a public reason. Tomescu, head of ONJN’s South-East territorial service in Constanța, was confirmed the next day. Soare linked his removal to a National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) investigation involving four ONJN employees (see the DNA investigation at ONJN), and said that during his 16 months ONJN had blacklisted about 1,300 sites, carried out about 11,000 inspections and revoked more than 70 licenses.
Tomescu’s first weeks went on an internal review. In mid-September ONJN reported a staff shortage that limits its ability to cover all its legal duties, and set four priorities: a digital registry for petitions and correspondence, a national program for the prevention and treatment of gambling addiction, the measures ordered by the Court of Accounts, and filling vacant posts. In October it reported hundreds of unresolved petitions and moved petitions to a digital system.
The new management has also questioned decisions taken before August. In early October ONJN set up a working group to examine Conștient și Liber (Aware and Free), the €5 million harm-prevention grant call launched in April, citing doubts about its budget and legal basis. On 13 October it published its 2025 activity report with a disclaimer that some figures did not match results announced by the former leadership. For the current player-protection rules, see Romania’s responsible gambling rules in 2026.
What happens next
- Draft and consultation. Under Law 52/2003 on decisional transparency, a draft normative act must be published for public consultation before adoption. Licensees will see the text before it applies.
- Parliament. Two bills passed by the Senate in February 2026, raising the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21 and restricting daytime online advertising, are with the Chamber of Deputies as the deciding chamber; see Romania’s 21+ age and online ad blackout bills. A new framework may absorb or overtake them.
- Current rules stay in force. Until a new act is adopted, OUG 77/2009 as amended applies in full: fees, the 30% authorization fee, guarantees, Class 2 reporting and municipal approval all continue.
What licensees should do now
- Keep complying with the current text. Payment dates, reports and notifications do not pause for a legislative review; the Romania gambling compliance calendar lists them.
- Log the friction points. Where provisions conflict, overlap or cannot be applied as written, record the article, the practical problem and its cost. That is the evidence a consultation response needs.
- Plan to comment. Respond during public consultation, directly or through an industry association, with drafting proposals rather than general objections.
- Watch the tax base. ONJN’s mirror-server analysis and the reassessments show where supervision is heading. Reconcile declarations, payments and server data before the regulator does.
- Class 2 suppliers: keep the monthly blocking report and significant-change notifications current; see Class 2 reporting obligations under Law 141/2025.
Szilaghi Consulting tracks the review and can help licensees prepare consultation responses and keep their files compliant in the meantime. The current regime is summarized in our Romania gambling license guide; for a tailored read, book a free fit call.
