Romania ONJN Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc

Overview

The ONJN (Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc, National Gambling Office) is Romania’s gambling regulator. It was launched in 2013 and is based in the capital, Bucharest. It licenses and supervises Romania’s entire gambling industry, including land-based casinos, slot machine venues, betting shops, and online casinos and sports betting.

Romania created its basic gambling law with Emergency Ordinance 77/2009 in 2009 and introduced an online gambling system with Emergency Ordinance 92/2014 in 2014. After the first online licenses were issued in 2015, the market grew quickly and is now one of the largest regulated online markets in Eastern Europe. Tax and guarantee requirements have continued to tighten since then, through Emergency Ordinance 82/2023, Law 141/2025, and others.

History

License types

Romania’s most distinctive feature is that game providers, not just operators, must hold a license.

A foreign company seeking a Class 1 license must set up a Romanian entity or, if headquartered in the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland, maintain a fixed place of business in Romania.

Costs and taxes

Romania’s online market is relatively costly.

Offline, each slot machine carries an annual fee of €6,000 plus a €1,000 “vice tax.” Because of this cost structure, the Romanian market is being reshaped around large, well-capitalized operators.

Market structure

In Romania’s online market, sports betting accounts for about 56% and online casinos for about 36%. Within casinos, classic slots (simple slots with fruit, 7s, and BAR symbols) are especially popular. This seems to reflect the strong land-based slot machine venue culture. Live casino and poker have also been growing recently.

Impact on game providers

A slot provider that wants to supply games to Romanian operators must obtain a Class 2 license. That is why providers announce “ONJN Class 2 license obtained” as separate news, and some release classic-style slots tailored to Romanian players’ tastes. Many providers, such as Betsoft, list Romania’s ONJN in their info box, and Eastern Europe-based providers like Playson and Spinomenal are also strong in Romania.

Blocking illegal sites

Since 2015, the ONJN has blacklisted unlicensed online gambling sites and blocked internet access to them. Companies on the blacklist are also at a disadvantage in later license applications.

Rating

Romania is often cited as an early opener of its online market that brought unlicensed sites into a regulated framework. Still, some say that sharp increases in taxes and guarantee requirements since 2023 have put a heavy burden on small and mid-sized operators. Along with its neighbor Greece, it is a leading regulated market in Southeast Europe.