ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cosmina Maria Simion, Alina Tace and Petruș Partene, WH Simion & Partners
3. Legislative Framework 3.1 Key Legislation
ises that are equipped with slot-machines to localities with a population of 15,000 inhabitants or more. Lotteries Land-based lottery games are restricted since this category falls under the monopoly of the Romanian National Lottery. Other Relevant Sectors Tombola/raffles Tombola games are regulated under Romanian legis- lation as an express category of land-based gambling and the licensing regime for these was updated in 2022. Temporary games Land-based casino games that take place in tourist resorts or on leisure craft qualify as temporary games of chance and are subject to a special temporary licence and authorisation, valid for a period of three months. Following amendments to the primary gam- bling legislation that entered into force on 6 October 2023, slot-machine games with unlimited stakes and winnings and land-based bingo no longer qualify for operation under a temporary licence and authorisa- tion. Poker festivals are a distinct category of temporary game defined by law as temporary events organised in tourist resorts or other locations, and consisting of poker tournaments performed exclusively between the participants. Any other types of games of chance This generic category includes any product that ful- fils the cumulative conditions to qualify as a game of chance and is not expressly defined by the gam- bling regulation. The legal regime for such unregulat- ed products will be established by the local regulator based on the game rules and description presented by the organiser.
The conditions under which the organisation and operation of games of chance are permitted in Roma- nia are outlined in the following normative acts: • Government Emergency Ordinance 77/2009 on the organisation and operation of games of chance (GEO 77/2009); • Government Decision 111/2016 for the approval of the methodological norms for the implementation of Government Emergency Ordinance 77/2009 on the organisation and operation of games of chance (GD 111/2016); • Government Emergency Ordinance 20/2013 on the establishment, organisation and functioning of the National Gambling Office ( Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc , or ONJN); and • Government Decision 298/2013 on the organisa- tion and functioning of the ONJN. Gambling activities are also regulated by means of instructions, orders or decisions issued by the ONJN in relation to various aspects of gambling activity, such as: • the certification of online gambling platforms; • interconnection protocols and reporting require- ments for slot machines; • significant changes in the licensing data that are required to be notified to the ONJN; • procedure applicable to self-exclusion requests; and • reporting of the revenues obtained by both land- based and online operators. Moreover, certain requirements in the AML field are also applicable to gambling activities, and were initial- ly contained in Law 129/2019, which implements the Fourth and Fifth AML Directives. At the end of 2021, the gambling regulator issued the sectoral norms/ instructions clarifying how the AML regime must be implemented specifically in the field of gambling. These came into force in January 2022.
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