Romania’s National Office for Gambling (ONJN) has launched a broad review of the country’s gambling legislation, signalling a possible shift away from the series of piecemeal amendments that have shaped the market in recent years.
A wider legislative review
The regulator has changed the composition of the working group responsible for drafting gambling legislation. The group will review the rules currently in force, identify provisions that overlap or contradict one another, and assess which parts of the framework require updating. ONJN says the existing approach of amending individual provisions whenever problems arise is no longer sufficient.
The initiative is being led under ONJN president Valentin-Ioan Tomescu, who took office in August. The regulator has not published a draft bill, a list of working group members or a timetable for completing the review. It is therefore too early to determine whether the process will produce a completely new gambling law or a comprehensive rewrite of the framework built around Emergency Ordinance 77/2009.
Recent regulatory changes
The review follows significant changes to the market. Law 141/2025 increased the tax on remote gambling authorisations from 21% to 30% of gross gaming revenue and raised the minimum annual authorisation fee to €480,000. Emergency Ordinance 7/2026 also introduced municipal approval requirements for certain land-based gambling venues, giving local authorities a stronger role in deciding where betting shops and slot halls can operate.
For licensed operators, a comprehensive review could eventually bring greater clarity to compliance obligations, but it may also lead to further changes in taxation, licensing and operations. The immediate next step is the working group’s assessment; no new rules have been adopted as part of this announcement.