In Romania, one missed deadline can hurt more than a bad betting weekend—because compliance failures don’t just trigger penalties, they can also put your authorization at risk.

The tricky part is that you don’t report to one institution. Instead, you manage a multi-agency workflow: ONJN (regulator), ANAF (tax), plus specific destination funds (like sports and culture) with their own logic and timing.

When you structure this correctly, you gain three things immediately: cleaner cash-flow planning, fewer “surprise” regularizations, and a much calmer relationship with auditors and inspectors.

So, let’s translate the legal framework into a practical operator playbook—what to file, when to pay, and where teams usually slip.

Key Points (Operator Checklist You Can Actually Use)

Your “3 deadlines” you should memorize

• 10th: ONJN monthly revenue/tax declaration (for the prior month)
• 15th: AFCN cultural fund payment (0.5%)
• 25th: Most ANAF/OUG 77-related payments (license/authorization schedules, promotion tax timing, access tax transfer timing, regularizations)

High-risk zones where operators commonly slip

• Marketing signs advertising contracts, but compliance misses the 5-day ONJN communication window.
• BI reports revenues one way, finance estimates another way, and the authorization regularization becomes messy.
• Self-exclusion requests get logged, but nobody pushes the file to ONJN within 2 working days.
• Payments go out on time, but teams forget to send copy declarations + payment proof to ONJN within 5 days.
• Player withholding logic lags behind post-2025 bracket changes.

Controls I would implement immediately (friendly but blunt)

• A single compliance calendar (shared across legal, finance, BI, payments, marketing).
• A “rates and bases” register version-controlled (so percentages don’t drift).
• Trigger-based workflows: “contract signed → ONJN notification task created”; “self-exclusion ticket opened → 48h ONJN transmission SLA.”
• Evidence discipline: store OP + bank statement + submitted form in one place, because the norms explicitly push documentation expectations.

Romania Gambling Compliance: ONJN & ANAF Deadlines, Taxes, and Reporting (2026)

The Big Picture (My Operator-Side Take)

From a practical standpoint, Romania’s gambling compliance feels like running two synchronized engines:

1. Regulatory engine (ONJN): licensing, reporting, responsible gambling, integrity measures, self-exclusion flows.
2. Fiscal engine (ANAF + destination funds): license/authorization taxes, monthly/advance payments, withholding for players, and special contributions (sports + culture).

And importantly, the “rules” moved again in recent years—especially on authorization taxation under OUG 77/2009 and on player winnings taxation starting 1 August 2025.

1) ONJN: Core Administrative & Reporting Obligations

A. Advertising contracts: report fast, not “later”

If you sign contracts to promote gambling brands/platforms/apps via outdoor/public road advertising or TV services, you must communicate those contracts to ONJN within 5 working days from signing—and you must also communicate acts that modify the contract value.

My opinion: this is an easy area to underestimate because marketing teams move quickly. Therefore, I recommend you treat advertising contracting like a regulated workflow (legal + compliance sign-off), not just procurement.

B. Monthly ONJN declaration (revenue + amounts due)

Operators must submit a monthly declaration reflecting gambling revenues and the amounts due for license/authorization, per game type, using the ONJN form model. The declaration is due by the 10th of the following month for the prior month (traditional and online / remote specifics apply).

Also, the ONJN model explicitly supports/anticipates electronic signature (administrator or authorized person), which is exactly where operators can cut admin friction—if they implement a clean e-sign workflow internally.

C. Self-exclusion and “undesirable persons” lists

Romania tightened operational responsibility expectations. In practice, two obligations matter most:

• Transmit self-exclusion requests to ONJN within 2 working days from registration.
• Transmit lists of “undesirable” persons (internal decisions) to ONJN within 5 working days from creation/change, including the reasons.

Operator reality: this is not only legal compliance—this is also reputational and risk control. When regulators audit “responsible gambling,” they often start by checking whether your exclusion flows actually move on time.

D. Responsible gambling contribution (annual)

Operators must pay the annual contribution supporting responsible gambling principles/measures:

• First year: within 10 days from documentation approval
• Subsequent years: by 25 January each year

My opinion: build this into your January cash-flow plan as a fixed compliance cost, the same way you plan audit fees or platform hosting.

E. Practical ONJN documentation discipline

Beyond “what” you file, your proof trail matters. Under the methodological norms, operators must be able to show payment evidence (OP + bank statement where relevant) as part of licensing/authorization formalities.

Also, when you submit certain declarations/payments to tax authorities, the norms require you to send copies and payment documents to ONJN within 5 days from payment date (this detail gets missed surprisingly often).

2) ANAF + OUG 77/2009: The “Taxes Engine” You Must Run Precisely

A. License tax: paid in advance (don’t treat it like a normal monthly tax)

Under OUG 77/2009, the license tax is declared and paid in advance:

• First year: by the 25th of the month after ONJN approves the documentation
• Next 9 years: 10 days before the prior year expires

My opinion: treat this like a renewal milestone with a 60-day internal countdown, not a standard accounting task.

B. Authorization tax: timing depends on game vertical

OUG 77/2009 uses different payment mechanics depending on the gambling type:

• Betting / bingo TV / remote gambling: pay in advance based on estimated revenues (with later regularization if actuals exceed estimates).
• Casino / poker clubs / slot-machines: typically pay monthly in advance (first month by the 25th of the month after approval; then by the 25th of the current month for next month).
• Bingo halls / tombola / poker festival / temporary games / certain lottery scenarios: pay integrally (annual) by the 25th after approval (and lottery-specific deadlines exist).

C. The big “quiet change”: authorization tax rates (watch the current percentages)

If your internal documentation still references older percentages, you can get misaligned quickly. The updated OUG 77/2009 framework shows increased rates for key segments (for example, betting at 25% and remote gambling categories reaching 30% depending on class), while bingo TV stays at 23% in the cited text.

My opinion: this is where finance teams need a “rate lock” control—one authoritative rate table, versioned, owned by compliance, used by finance.

D. Monthly 2% tax for online gambling (separate logic)

There is also a monthly tax calculated on total participation fees collected (2%), owed by online gambling organizers, with the legal basis linked to OUG 114/2018.

E. “Vice tax” and access tax (traditional operations must plan ahead)

• Vice tax (taxa de viciu): due monthly for certain slot-machine categories and videolottery, with advance payment mechanics in the rules.
• Access tax (taxa de acces): amounts collected must be transferred to the state budget by 25th of the following month for the prior month.

F. Advertising promotion tax = 5% of advertising contract value

Romania introduced a clear “promotion tax” rule: 5% of the value of advertising contracts that promote authorized gambling activities, paid to the state budget by the 25th of the month after the contract is concluded.

Also, if a non-operator entity signs the advertising contract, the law can shift the tax obligation to the advertising services provider, depending on contract structure.

3) Declaration 100 (D100): The Practical Filing Spine

From a workflow perspective, D100 is the backbone for many gambling-specific obligations, because it’s the standardized declaration route for self-assessed / withholding-type taxes.

ANAF’s framework explicitly ties gambling taxes to D100’s nomenclature positions (including authorization tax, license tax, vice tax, videolottery tax, the monthly online tax, and the promotion tax).

My opinion: the best way to reduce filing mistakes is to map each vertical to:

• the tax base source (GGR? participation fees? contract value?),
• the filing position, and
• the internal data owner (finance vs BI vs payments vs marketing).

4) Player Withholding: Gambling Winnings Tax (Updated) + Annual Informative Declarations

A. The updated withholding brackets (effective 1 August 2025)

Romania changed the way it taxes gambling income for individuals (withholding at source). From 1 August 2025, the withholding brackets are:

• 4% for amounts up to 10,000 lei
• 20% for the portion between 10,000 lei and 66,750 lei
• 40% for the portion above 66,750 lei

B. Special rule for casino/poker club/slot-machine/loz winnings

For certain categories (cazino, cluburi de poker, slot-machine, lozuri), the tax computation uses a non-taxable threshold of 66,750 lei per gross receipt, and for amounts above that threshold the calculation uses a bracket method with a fixed subtraction (notably referenced as 11,750 lei in the cited material).

My opinion: operators should not treat this as “just accounting,” because a bad configuration in your payout/withholding logic becomes a player-facing incident fast—and then it becomes a regulator-facing incident.

C. Informative annual declarations (205 / 207)

In addition to monthly withholding/payment cycles, Romania also runs an annual reporting layer via informative declarations for beneficiaries (players), typically due by the end of February for the prior year, based on the applicable ANAF orders for those forms.

5) Cultural Fund (AFCN): 0.5% Contribution — Separate Deadline (15th)

This is the classic “secondary obligation” that gets missed because it doesn’t feel like gambling regulation.

Under the cultural funding rules, gambling organizers must pay a 0.5% contribution on monthly revenues, with payment due by the 15th of the following month, and the framework also references penalties/interest logic if you miss timing.

Additionally, the declaration mechanics for the Fund are governed by the Ministry of Culture’s order framework (including the norms initially set under Order 2066/2011 and later updates).

My opinion: your compliance calendar should treat the 15th as a hard stop that sits between ONJN’s 10th and ANAF’s 25th—because that mid-month deadline can otherwise disappear in operational noise.

6) Sports Destination Funds: 1% (COSR) + 0.2% (Paralympic)

Romania carved out destination shares from gambling-related taxes:

• 1% to the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR)
• 0.2% to the National Paralympic Committee

ANAF’s D100 guidance also reflects these as dedicated positions and explains the operator’s declaration logic.

Conclusion (Friendly, Practical, Opinion-Driven)

Romania’s gambling compliance is absolutely manageable—however, you must treat it like a system, not a set of random obligations. In my view, the winning operators do three things consistently: they run a tight calendar (10th/15th/25th), they keep their tax bases and rates aligned with the latest rules (especially after the 2025 withholding changes and updated authorization rates), and they maintain a clean evidence trail for ONJN and ANAF.

If you build that structure, then compliance stops being a monthly firefight. Instead, it becomes an operational routine that protects your license, stabilizes your cash flow, and makes audits feel like verification—not interrogation.

Tags: Romania iGaming, ONJN, ANAF, compliance calendar, gaming taxes, reporting duties, advertising compliance, responsible gambling, autoexclusion, withholding tax, regulatory operations