The Romanian B2C Gambling License (class 1) and corresponding permits allow operators to offer gambling services in the Romanian market (regardless of whether this applies to land or online gambling). This license is mandatory for legal entities involved in the field of traditional and remote gambling.
Romanian Gambling Legislation
The Romanian legislation which impacts upon gambling activities comprises the following main normative acts:
- Government Emergency Ordinance no. 77/2009 on the organization and operation of games of chance (“GEO no. 77/2009”);
- Government Decision no. 111/2016 for the approval of the Methodological Norms for implementation of GEO no. 77/2009 (the “Secondary Legislation”);
- Government Emergency Ordinance no. 20/2013 on the organization and functioning of the National Gambling Office and for the modification and supplementation of GEO no. 77/2009;
- Government Decision no. 298/2013 on the organization and functioning of the National Gambling Office;
- Law no. 227/2015 regarding the Fiscal Code (“Romanian Fiscal Code”);
- Law no. 207/2015 on the Fiscal Procedure Code;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 47/2016 for the approval of content, reports, and access to information transmitted by remote gambling operators to the National Gambling Office, as further amended and supplemented;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 48/2016 for the approval of the procedure for fulfilling the conditions for connecting land-based slot machines and betting-type games of chance;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 93/2016 for the approval of the mandatory requirements for certification and audit of the remote gambling systems;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 89/2018 regarding the unitary interpretation of the provisions of point 7 of the Annex to Order no. 48/2016 for the approval of the procedure for fulfilling the conditions for connecting land-based slot machines and betting-type games of chance;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 179/2018 regarding the approval of the model of monthly declaration as a standard form for the revenues realized by the gambling operators which carry out gambling activities according to art. 10 para. (1) of GEO no. 77/2009;
- Government Emergency Ordinance no. 114/2018 on the establishment of measures in the field of public investments and fiscal-budgetary measures, for the modification and completion of certain normative acts and for the extension of certain deadlines (“GEO no. 114/2018”);
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 38/2019 for the approval of the method of calculation of the monthly tax provided by art. 53 of GEO no. 114/2018, and for the modification of Annex no. 8 to Order no. 179/2018 issued by the President of the National Gambling Office;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 400/2019 for the approval of the draft decision regarding the accessory budgetary obligations representing interest and penalties for delay, the procedure regarding the notification of economic operators – licensed gambling organizers and the draft of the payment notification for the annual contribution provided by art. 10 para. (4) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 77/2009 on the organization and operation of games of chance, further amended through Order no. 434/2019;
- Law no. 129/2019 for preventing and combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as for modifying and completing normative acts;
- The decision issued by the National Audiovisual Council no. 614 of 11 June 2019 for amending and completing Decision no. 220/2011 regarding the Code of Regulation of Audiovisual Content;
- The order issued by the President of the National Gambling Office no. 404/2020 for the approval of the Minimum technical conditions for verification of the gambling means, amended and supplemented through Order no. 86/2021; and
- Government Emergency Ordinance no. 48/2020 regarding certain financial-fiscal measures.
As a matter of principle, the Romanian regulation permits the offering of any of the Relevant Products on the Romanian market, both in land-based and digital/online forms, provided that the necessary licenses and authorization (s) are obtained by the operator intending to offer the respective Relevant Product.
The social/skill games are not expressly regulated under the Romanian gambling legislation and should not normally be qualified as games of chance. Thus, in accordance with GEO no. 77/2009, a game of chance is defined as a product that cumulatively meets the following characteristics:
- the charging of a participation fee;
- the game is based on the random selection of results;
- monetary winnings; and
- public offering of the respective game by the organizer to the participants.
Therefore, any game that lacks one (or several) of the mandatory elements provided by the legal definition should not be qualified as a game of chance and, in principle, should not be permitted in Romania without obtaining the licenses and authorization(s) imposed by the gambling regulation.
Romanian B2C Gambling License Process
A license must be obtained from the ONJN by all operators wishing to organize gambling activities in Romania. After the Committee has successfully evaluated the applicant’s file, a license may be granted individually for a period of 10 years. This excludes the temporary games in which case the license is granted for a limited period of 3 months. Additionally, authorization must be obtained from the ONJN. The fees related both to the licenses and the authorization are listed in the next tab.
The requirements imposed by the ONJN include:
- Residence in Romania. Operators wishing to offer their services to Romanian gamblers must be residents of Romania, EU or EEA and they must obtain the relevant licenses and authorizations from the ONJN. In case the company is a foreign entity, it must appoint a local authorized representative, whose domicile is in Romania, to deal with the competent authorities in the country and have the power to conclude contracts on its behalf
- Opening of a bank account with one of the banks in Romania where the operator would need to deposit the players’ money. Licensed remote gaming operators will only be allowed to make payments to players through the payment processors that have been approved by the ONJN
- Requirements regarding the minimum share capital of the company depending on the type of game it offers
- A monthly declaration giving details regarding income from games of change as well as the fees due will have to be submitted to the ONJN on a standard form
- Compliance with the principles regarding the protection of minors as well as with the content of the promotional material used and the locations where they can be displayed
AML Rules
In accordance with GEO no. 77/2009, all payments to players participating in online gambling must be made only through a payment processor which holds a Class 2 license granted by the National Gambling Office, irrespective of whether the respective payment entity already holds the necessary authorizations/approvals in accordance with the banking/financial regulation.
On July 18, Law no. 129/2019 was published in the Romanian Official Gazette, which transposes the Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“AML Law”), which, by comparison to the old Romanian AML Law, extends the sphere of reporting entities in the gambling field (in the sense that the old AML law specifically referred only to casinos as being subject to the AML requirements, while the new AML Law applies to all gambling operators). Under the new AML Law, it is the National Gambling Office which is the controlling authority with respect to the prevention of money laundering in the gambling field. While the Romanian AML Office may still carry out inspections, it is expected to do so only under exceptional circumstances, leaving this attribution mainly to the National Gambling Office.
So far, the interpretation of the Romanian AML Office was that only Romanian-based operators were subject to the local AML Law (as such implements the EU Directive), while foreign (non-resident) entities would fall under the AML regulations existing in their country of origin. However, it is worth noting that, based on a recent quasi-official interpretation of the Romanian AML Office during a public conference, it now seems that the Romanian AML Office is of the opinion that the new AML Law is also applicable to foreign entities, which implicitly generates additional legal obligations to such operators. As such, despite being incorporated and having their fiscal residence in other jurisdictions, the foreign-licensed online gambling operators active in Romania and carrying out remote gambling activities on the Romanian territory, in virtue of a Class 1 license and authorization issued by the National Gambling Office, are obliged to perform the relevant AML reporting in Romania and appoint a contact to liaise with the local AML authority.
While the Romanian gambling legislation does not specifically regulate the use of virtual currencies for gambling operations, GEO no. 77/2009 expressly provides that any payment instrument used for gambling must comprise the identification details of the individual who operated the respective instrument. This regulatory requirement may lead to the conclusion that virtual currencies that cannot enable this identification standard are not permitted under the Romanian gambling regulation.