ONJN President Pledges Return to Accountability for Romania Gambling In 2026
ONJN, Romania's National Office for Gambling, has actually set out its program for 2026 targeted at enhancing compliance enforcement and bring back regulative standards across the marketplace.
Vlad Soare: ONJN
The objectives of the programme have been pledged by ONJN President Vlad-Cristian Soare, who has actually positioned the technique as an essential action to restore trust and self-confidence in a regulator whose governance has actually come under sustained criticism.
Soare presumed management of ONJN in May 2025, following the resignation of previous president Gabriel Gheorghe, who stepped down in the middle of examination over a series of audit failures. The high-profile failings were linked to regulatory imperfections that apparently left near to EUR1bn in tax and authorisation costs uncollected.
Reflecting on the regulator's actions in 2025, Soare explained the year as a "non-linear and uneasy course", however one that nonetheless delivered "concrete development in the fight versus prohibited gambling and towards greater transparency".
Operating under extreme political examination, Soare specified that ONJN had provided "concrete accomplishments", primarily through boosted enforcement activity. Actions included the confiscation of more than 200 video gaming devices, the blacklisting of over 200 unlawful gaming websites, and the filing of 48 criminal grievances connected to offense and unlicensed operations.
Among the brand-new initiatives highlighted was the launch of ONJN's very first WhatsApp reporting channel, allowing members of the general public to inform of believed prohibited gaming machines and enhance land-based enforcement. In the digital sector, ONJN reported a 98% takedown rate for unlawful gambling material served to Romanian audiences across platforms operated by Meta, Google and TikTok.
Enforcement will remain ONJN's central top priority in 2026, supported by the prepared Q1 rollout of 2 significant systems: a merged National Self-Exclusion plan covering both retail and online gambling, and a geolocation-based QR system integrated into the regulator's central register.
"Any person can now confirm where gaming machines are located, who owns them and whether they are legal," Soare wrote.
On player safeguards, ONJN will handle a new single self-exclusion procedure, managed entirely by the regulator. The treatment will introduce clear exclusion periods, a defined difference in between account closure and self-exclusion, and a "cool-off" stage preventing immediate re-entry.
Further technical upgrades will include automated tracking of deals, bonus offers and operator declarations to spot black-market activity, along with the launch of a brand-new electronic document platform. The latter will allow all operator interactions with ONJN to take place completely online, supported by an upgraded website and a devoted petitions website.
ONJN desires modernisation
Aware of the political scrutiny surrounding betting, Soare has actually supported the overhaul of Romania's Law on Games of Chance. Soare argues that authorities must comply to design a "coherent and efficient legislative framework" to replace what he explained as "a morally out-of-date Gambling Law".
End-of-year proceedings saw 20 legislative propositions sent to Parliament, requiring sweeping modifications to the governance of gambling. Revisions under the new four-party "pro-Europe" coalition saw the Liberal Party (PNL) call for Romania's gambling age to be raised to 21, sent under the required of "safeguarding the age of innocence".
Elsewhere, coalition member Save Romania Union (USR) sent a series of modifications requiring a restriction on untargeted advertising and sports sponsorships. USR has maintained that the overhaul of Romanian betting guideline ought to include the disbanding of ONJN, pointing out a loss of rely on its governance throughout Romanian public institutions.
Back to institutional accountability
Soare has acknowledged that 2026 will be a definitive year for ONJN, with the regulator's future set to be shaped by ongoing political and regulative procedures. He has actually freely identified that governance reforms, legal outcomes and parliamentary analysis will ultimately determine the authority's long-lasting function within Romania's gaming framework.
Despite this uncertainty, ONJN has reiterated its duty to continue governing Romania's betting market throughout 2026, keeping enforcement, licensing oversight and consumer security steps as structural reforms are disputed at a political level.
As part of this dedication, the regulator has allocated EUR5m in funding for 2026 to support local authorities and civil societies in taking on issue betting through community-driven avoidance, education and intervention efforts. The programme represents ONJN's first massive, structured investment in harm-reduction determines supplied by local authorities.