Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) is investigating alleged bribery inside the National Gambling Office (ONJN). On 16 June 2026 prosecutors caught a Bulgarian businessman and former ONJN president Odeta Nestor in a sting. The case concerns an alleged €100,000 promised to ONJN’s secretary general so that an operator would escape sanctions after a disputed 2023 jackpot. A second ONJN file followed on 29 July 2026, and on 21 August the government replaced the regulator’s president. No one has been convicted, and everyone involved is presumed innocent.
Romania’s gambling regulator under scrutiny
The ONJN licenses and supervises all gambling in Romania under OUG 77/2009: the Class 1 operator licenses, the Class 2 supplier licenses and the annual operating authorizations. Our guide to the Romanian license classes and costs explains that framework. A bribery case at the top of that institution matters to every licensee, because the same people sign off on inspections, sanctions and authorizations.
A jackpot complaint that started the case
In 2023 a player won a jackpot of about RON 5.42 million (around €1 million) at a licensed venue. The winner later complained to ONJN that part of the prize had passed through a payment card linked to an employee of the operator. The complaint triggered administrative and financial checks by ONJN. According to SiGMA News, DNA registered the jackpot file in August 2025.
What the court documents allege
The Bucharest Tribunal’s reasoning on DNA’s request for pretrial detention, reported by Gândul, SiGMA News and HotNews, sets out the prosecution’s account:
- A Bulgarian businessman allegedly promised €100,000 to ONJN secretary general Narcis Godeanu. The aim, prosecutors say, was to avoid sanctions and referrals to prosecutors and to the anti-money-laundering office (ONPCSB).
- The money allegedly moved in three stages: €45,000, then €5,000, then a final €50,000 handed over during the DNA operation on 16 June 2026.
- Godeanu had already reported the approach and was acting as an authorized DNA collaborator, so the final payment was recorded in a controlled operation.
- Nestor is separately alleged to have passed €500, through Godeanu, to the head of ONJN’s IT and Monitoring Directorate to speed up checks.
The court stressed that these were preventive-measure proceedings. They test reasonable suspicion and proportionality, not guilt.
No operator has been named
The court documents identify defendants by initials and refer to unnamed gambling companies. Some outlets named a specific operator on the basis of anonymous sources. At least one of those articles was later removed, and the operator denies involvement. We do not name any operator.
The former ONJN president
Odeta Nestor led ONJN from 2013 to 2017 and later chaired the Association of Remote Gambling Organizers (AOJND), which removed her after her arrest. Prosecutors allege she coordinated the timing and amounts of payments, facilitated the €100,000 promise and sought confidential bank-related correspondence about the jackpot winner. The alleged offenses include complicity in bribe-taking, bribe-giving in continued form and instigation to unauthorized access to confidential information.
The Bucharest Tribunal ordered her pretrial detention on 17 June 2026. The Bucharest Court of Appeal replaced it with 30 days of house arrest from 29 June to 28 July 2026. She has not been convicted.
A separate file involving Bucharest’s mayor
The investigation was split from a corruption file concerning Bucharest mayor Ciprian Ciucu, who was placed under judicial control on 18 June 2026. That file concerns alleged campaign advertising and consultancy offered in exchange for favorable treatment of planning documents. Ciucu rejects the accusations. HotNews reports that the disjoined ONJN case does not include him.
The second ONJN file (July 2026)
On 29 July 2026 DNA detained Ana-Maria Badea, deputy director general of ONJN’s General Directorate for Gambling Authorization. According to DNA, as reported by Gândul, she allegedly received €2,500 between 23 December 2025 and 21 May 2026, directly and through her husband, to speed up and favor operators’ authorization requests. A judge at the Bucharest Tribunal placed her under house arrest and rejected DNA’s request for pretrial detention.
Two ONJN inspectors were placed under 60 days of judicial control and barred from working as ONJN officials. They are alleged to have received RON 25,000 in total, in amounts of RON 1,000 to 5,000, from inspected operators between September 2025 and May 2026. A company administrator is charged with bribe-giving. Gândul reported that this file partly originated in a complaint by Nestor and predates her own case. All of these people are presumed innocent.
Leadership change at ONJN
Vlad-Cristian Soare became ONJN president in April 2025, after a Court of Accounts audit criticized the regulator’s tax collection and oversight. His term brought more inspections, mass blacklisting of unlicensed sites and tougher advertising enforcement, covered in our posts on the ONJN action against illegal gambling ads and the black market and the ad platforms.
On 21 August 2026 interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan dismissed Soare (Decision No. 283/2026) and appointed Valentin-Ioan Tomescu. Tomescu previously headed ONJN’s South-East territorial service in Constanța and then worked in the General Directorate of Supervision and Control. Soare said he was given no reasons for his removal.
What applies now (2026)
The investigation does not change the law. Licensing, authorization and sanctions still run under OUG 77/2009 and HG 111/2016, and the fee levels set by Law 141/2025 are unchanged. What has changed is the practical environment:
- Jackpot payouts and complaints. Expect ONJN to look closely at how large wins are paid, to whom, and through which payment instruments. Keep a clean audit trail from win to payout.
- Authorization timing. With the Authorization Directorate under investigation and a new president in office, build extra time into authorizations, game approvals and renewals.
- Contact with officials. Any payment, gift or “facilitation” request from an official must be refused and documented. Your AML program under Law 129/2019 and your internal reporting lines should cover this explicitly.
- AML referrals. The case centers on avoiding a referral to the ONPCSB. Treat any finding that could trigger such a referral as a board-level matter, not a negotiation.
For a structured review of these controls, see our gambling compliance services. The operator calendar in the deadlines and taxes that keep your license alive shows where they fit in the monthly cycle.
Awaiting judicial conclusions
Both files are at the investigation stage. Prosecutors are still gathering evidence, we have seen no report of an indictment in either case as of 9 October 2026, and no operator has been formally identified. We will update this post when a court rules on the merits.