Romania

Romania regulates online gambling through the Oficiul National pentru Jocuri de Noroc (ONJN), issuing Class 1 licences for B2C online operations (casino, betting, poker, bingo) and Class 2 licences for B2B suppliers and affiliates, alongside land-based authorisations, on a ten-year basis with annual authorisation renewals. The defining recent event is Law 141/2025, a fiscal package effective 1 August 2025 that sharply raised costs: the online authorisation tax rose from 21% to 30% of GGR, land-based operations are taxed at 23% of GGR, a flat annual B2C fee of EUR 300,000 applies, winnings are subject to a 4% withholding from the first leu, and slot machines carry an extra EUR 1,000 per year each. This came against a backdrop of political pressure over roughly EUR 1bn in uncollected taxes between 2019 and 2023, plus advertising restrictions including bans in small localities and billboard caps. Further reform proposals - including operator headquarters and relocation requirements and tighter enforcement - remain under discussion but are not yet law. For operators, Romania has become markedly more expensive and demanding: the jump to 30% GGR tax, the substantial flat fee and the winnings withholding together squeeze both margins and player value. The direction of travel is clearly toward higher taxation, firmer collection and stricter advertising rules. Romania remains a sizeable Eastern European market, but the 2025 fiscal package has reset its economics onto a higher-cost, higher-scrutiny footing.