In spring 2025 Romania’s gambling regulator, ONJN, started a reform under its new president, Vlad-Cristian Soare: mass inspections of illegal venues, clearing a backlog of unprocessed self-exclusion requests, and directing operator contributions to addiction treatment. Law 141/2025 later gave the program legal teeth. Soare was removed on 21 August 2026, and the reform now continues, or stalls, under Valentin-Ioan Tomescu.
This post first appeared on 10 June 2025. We kept the original account and added what has happened since.
Rebooting Romania’s gambling regulation
Troubled origins
The reform began with an audit. In February 2025 the Court of Accounts reported on ONJN’s supervision of online operators for 2019–2023. It estimated potential authorization-fee differences of more than RON 3 billion over the period and confirmed RON 78.9 million in undeclared fees plus RON 37.2 million in interest and penalties. ONJN had never compared operators’ monthly declarations with data from its own terminals, had licensed operators without a secure remote-access point in Romania, and had run no tax-compliance inspections of online operators between 2014 and 2023.
Romania also lacked a working self-exclusion system at the time. Soare was appointed on 25 April 2025 with a mandate to restore the regulator’s credibility. He had previously led FEDBET, the gambling organizers’ federation, and the Romanian Lottery.
1. Crackdown on illegal gambling
Within weeks ONJN reported more than 1,000 inspections, fines above RON 700,000, criminal referrals, suspended and revoked licenses, and more than 50 seized machines, mostly in towns under 15,000 inhabitants. OUG 82/2023, as approved by Law 107/2024, already barred gambling venues in localities with fewer than 15,000 residents. ONJN said it would share its findings with prosecutors and the economic police.
2. Strengthening self-exclusion
ONJN said it had inherited a large backlog of unprocessed self-exclusion requests. At the time, it gave the figure as 15,000; its later activity report put it above 30,000. It cleared the queue, encrypted the database and backed legislation to formalize a national register. The register now runs under art. 15^1 of OUG 77/2009 and ONJN Order 79/2025. Operators forward self-exclusion requests to ONJN within two working days.
3. Funding addiction treatment and prevention
Every Class 1 operator pays an annual responsible-gambling contribution (€500,000 for online operators). The 2025 plan was to direct that money to treatment centers, youth education and national prevention campaigns, rather than leave it in the budget as general revenue.
4. Digital oversight and internal reform
ONJN announced internal digitalization, simpler interactions with operators and an online monitoring platform that flags suspicious activity in real time.
5. National and political pressure
A parallel bill proposed capping gambling spending at 10% of monthly income. There was also talk of moving oversight from ONJN to the Ministry of Finance. Neither proposal had become law by October 2026.
What applies now (2026)
The legal toolkit grew. Law 141/2025 (Monitorul Oficial no. 699 of 25 July 2025) raised the online authorization fee to 30% of GGR with a €480,000 minimum from 1 August 2025; the Class 1 license fee stands at €300,000 a year. The law also let ONJN order the removal of illegal gambling content and required Class II suppliers to report monthly on Romanian access to unlicensed sites (see the Class II supplier ban). The full cost picture is on our Romania licensing page.
Results of the first year. ONJN’s report for April 2025 to April 2026 counted about 11,000 control actions, roughly RON 10 million in fines, 70 criminal complaints, 60 license revocations, more than 300 newly blacklisted websites and about 54,000 self-excluded people. The “Conștient și Liber” (Aware and Free) program received €5 million as the first formal funding stream for prevention and treatment. A public register of physical gaming devices with QR codes and geolocation went live.
Land-based power shifted to local councils. OUG 7/2026 (February 2026) lets each local council decide whether gambling venues may operate in its territory, set the permitted zones and require an annual local operating authorization on top of the ONJN license. See OUG 7/2026 and slot machines.
Leadership changed. On 29 July 2026 DNA prosecutors searched ONJN’s headquarters in a case concerning four officials. A Court of Accounts audit of ONJN’s 2024 activity, made public in July 2026, reported damages of nearly RON 150 million. On 21 August 2026 caretaker Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan released Soare (Decision 283/2026) and appointed Valentin-Ioan Tomescu, previously head of ONJN’s Constanța office (Decision 284/2026). No reason was published. Background is in the ONJN corruption probe.
Still pending. A draft emergency ordinance to harmonize self-exclusion across land-based and online operators was still with the government in 2026. Bills raising the venue age to 21 and banning online gambling ads between 06:00 and 24:00 passed the Senate in February 2026. As of June 2026 they were awaiting a final vote in the Chamber of Deputies.
For licensees, the practical message is the same as in 2025: expect inspections, document everything and assume the self-exclusion and supplier rules will be enforced. Our compliance service covers ONJN reporting, inspections and policy updates.