ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cosmina Maria Simion, Alina Tace and Petruș Partene, WH Simion & Partners
contribution to a public body, the main purpose of which is to finance programmes and activities aimed at ensuring a responsible gambling environment and preventing gambling addiction. 7.2 Gambling Management Tools Regarding online gambling, the legislation specifi- cally provides that the platforms must be designed to enable responsible gambling functions, such as: • the setting of daily, weekly or monthly deposit limits; or • the possibility of players permanently or temporar- ily self-excluding from gambling. Furthermore, the platform must also have a “reality- check” feature embedded in it, in the form of a warn- ing message posted automatically every 60 minutes, which must inform the player about the amount of time spent gambling. Online operators are also obliged to inform a player who has opted to self-exclude about the possibility of receiving counselling and treatment for gambling addiction in a treatment centre. In October 2023, the government emergency ordi- nance amending the primary gambling legislation introduced a new provision stating that the registry of self-excluded and undesirable persons will be held by the ONJN, while operators will have real-time access to such registry. However, obligations to implement self-exclusion based on such registry are currently (October 2025) in force only for the land-based opera- tors. 8. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) 8.1 AML Legislation Romania has implemented the EU’s Fourth and Fifth AML Directives, through Law 129/2019. At the end of 2021, after considerable delay, the gambling regulator issued the sectoral norms/instructions clarifying how the AML regime must be implemented in the field of gambling, and these came into force in January 2022.
The AML Instructions brought clarifications regarding the subjects of the AML regime, which applies to all operators licensed in Romania, irrespective of their country of incorporation. Furthermore, the AML Instructions provide particular obligations for licensed operators in the field of gam- bling, as well as extensive requirements to conduct risk management, to perform standard or enhanced KYC in certain scenarios, to implement data retention obligations, to report mechanisms to the AML author- ity, or to appoint and train personnel qualified in the area of AML (Money Laundering Reporting Officers, or MLROs). Excessive Obligations However, while clarifying certain aspects that are char- acteristic to the gambling sector, the AML Instructions have introduced certain excessive or unclear obliga- tions, such as an operator’s obligation to perform a due diligence process (including the identification of the ultimate beneficial owner), not only for customers/ players, but also for each and every business supplier. This requirement may be considered excessive since the AML law itself does not specifically impose this obligation. 8.2 AML Requirements The AML legislation imposes various obligations, such as: • specific customer due diligence; • reporting of suspicious transactions; • risk assessments;
• implementation of AML policies; and • record-keeping in a specific format.
9. Advertising 9.1 Regulatory/Supervisory Agency
The observance of the advertising regime for gam- bling activities is primarily supervised by the ONJN. The National Audio-Visual Council and the National Authority for Consumer Protection can also techni- cally supervise certain aspects of gambling advertis- ing, depending on the situation.
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