ROMANIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Cosmina Maria Simion, Alina Tace and Petruș Partene, WH Simion & Partners
may generate movement in the market, thus there is a chance that 2026/7 will see transactions or business transfers related to the gambling activities carried out by some gambling operators to align with the new requirements or to best address such requirements from a corporate perspective. Taxation Law 141/2025 imposed a new taxation framework across the industry. The most notable changes include the following. • The authorisation tax for online gambling has increased from 21% of GGR to 30%. It should be noted that the legislation provided for a minimum annual authorisation tax of EUR400,000, which has been increased to EUR480,000. • By comparison to the online sector, the authori- sation tax for land-based fixed-odds betting increased from 21% to 25% of GGR. It should be noted that the legislation provided for a minimum annual authorisation tax of EUR200,000, which has been increased to EUR240,000. • The annual authorisation tax for land-based slot- machine gambling increased from EUR5,300/ machine to EUR6,000/machine. It is important to emphasise that slot machines are the most popular form of land-based gambling in Romania (esti- mates suggest that more than 60,000 machines are operated in the market) and that an operator must have at least 75 authorised slot machines in order to maintain the validity of its licence. In addition, the taxes on gambling income obtained by players from most of the categories of games of chance are: • for revenues up to RON10,000 (approximately EUR2,000), the tax is 4%; • for revenues ranging from RON10,000 to RON66,750 (approximately EUR13,000), the tax is RON 400 + 20% of the amount exceeding RON 10,000 (calculated on the amount exceeding RON10,000); and • for revenues exceeding RON66,750, the tax is RON11,750 + 40% of the amount exceeding RON66,750 (as per the current regime, in this case,
a player must pay RON11,650 in tax plus 40% on the amount that exceeds RON66,750). It is worth pointing out that in the case of online gam- bling, the Fiscal Code has already imposed a with- holding tax mechanism applicable whenever the play- er makes a transfer from their gaming account to their bank account (or other withdrawal method). Hence, at each withdrawal from the online platform, operators must apply the above taxation thresholds. It is also worth noting that for certain categories of land-based gambling (ie, casinos, slot-machine halls, scratch cards organised by the National Lottery and poker clubs) players still benefit from a tax exemp- tion that is applicable to revenues that do not exceed RON66,750 (approximately EUR13,350). National Cultural Fund Tax In November 2022, via a law that amended legisla- tion in the field of cultural activities, the Romanian parliament also introduced a new payment obligation in the form of a contribution to the National Cultural Fund. This contribution amounts to 0.5% of the rev- enues obtained by “economic operators in the field of gambling”. At the time of the enactment, it was still unclear who the “economic operators in the field of gambling” were and what “revenues” meant in the context of this new payment obligation. Later, through the implementing legislation, the two notions were clarified: the obliga- tion applies to B2C organisers and the 0.5% applies to the value of GGR. Advertising Gambling advertising (or more specifically, the limita- tion or prohibition of this type of advertising) has been a recurrent topic that emerges from time to time in the political landscape. While, with certain limitations, gambling advertising is currently permitted in Roma- nia (being intensively used by operators, especially in the form of out-of-home (OOH) advertising or TV advertising), it seems that political stakeholders have started to look more carefully at this phenomenon. Various bills have been proposed throughout the years (some still pending) aimed at further restricting adver-
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