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Changes to the Romanian gambling legislation: new requirements for gambling operators

November 2022

In an effort to monitor the social circumstances of self-excluded and undesirable individuals, and to increase preventive measures against gambling addiction, on 31 October 2022, the Chamber of Deputies approved a new piece of legislation that amends the primary gambling legislation.

The envisaged changes impacting the B2C operators as per the proposed amendments to Government Emergency Ordinance no. 77/2009 on the organization and operation of games of chance (”GEO 77/2009”) are mainly relevant for the land-based sector, but the information may prove useful for all operators.

This new piece of legislation brings specific new requirements for gambling operators, such as:

  • to prove the existence of a technical infrastructure enabling them to compile databases on self-excluded and undesirable persons. This requirement is compulsory in order to obtain the authorization to operate.
  • to keep electronic records of all natural persons accessing venues where gambling activities are organized and operated (required to all gambling operators) and to archive the electronic databases of self-excluded and undesirable persons and keep such information for a minimum of 5 years after being collected.

The act also mentions that the Government is required to amend, within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this law, the secondary gambling legislation to detail the procedure based on  which these amendments will operate. However, the coming into force of the newly provided obligations does not depend on the amendment of the secondary legislation.

As regards the consequences of non-compliance with the new amendments, we mention that the obligation to prove the existence of technical means to compile a database of undesirable or self-excluded persons represents a condition for obtaining the authorization. Accordingly, we would expect that such capability will have to be proven to the Romanian relevant authority, namely the National Gambling Office (NOG or, in Romanian, ONJN) in order to obtain/renew the annual authorization. As this is a new piece of legislation, it is not clear how this evidence will be provided – we will continue to monitor de development and share the relevant information when they are made available.

NOTES: The Chamber of Deputies is the decisional chamber of the Romanian Parliament in relation to this new act. The amendments to GEO 77/2009 brough by the new law should entry into force three days after the publication in the Romanian Official Gazette. For now, as a next step, the law needs to be promulgated by the Romanian President.

The form of the new law, as approved by the Chamber of Deputies, is available (in Romanian language) HERE.

For any further details on the topic, please contact:


Cosmina Maria Simion
Managing Partner

Ana-Maria Baciu
Managing Partner

Andrei Cosma
Managing Associate

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