New Romanian Law to Regulate Online Casinos

Romania recently passed a new law which will regulate the online gaming sector, says Odette Nestor, President of the National Office for Gambling. The law will raise the licensing fee for online casinos from Romanian Leu (RON) 400,000 to EUR 100,000 (roughly RON 448,000). It will also introduce a temporary gambling license, given for three months with the possibility of extending it to six months. The goal of the temporary license is to promote tourism.

Nestor commented on the new ordinance, "Through this ordinance, the Government has managed to regulate the online gambling sector, which was regulated in 2010, but not completely. We now have a legal framework that allows gambling operators to get licensed in Romania, and through this licensing, we will protect minors and Romanian players."

Romania's Ambiguous Stance on Online Gambling

Romania has had a vague relationship with online gambling since it became an issue over the past decade. When Romania was accepted into the EU in 2008, it was forced to follow EU rulings on online gambling. However, these rulings ended up in no-man's-land, since Romania did not have any previously existing legislation regarding online gambling.

The 2010 regulation that Nestor referred to was when the Romanian government attempted to pass such legislation; they made a law that allowed online gambling, but only with companies who received a gaming license from the government. This regulation was somewhat odd, as there was no regulatory body in Romania that had the authority to give out such a license.

The result was that many foreign online gambling companies started offering services in Romanian, even though it was technically illegal. After all, there was still no regulatory body to enforce it.

Finally, in April 2013 a regulatory body was created to oversee Romania' online gaming: the National Office for Gambling, of which Odette Nestor is president.