Once the backbone of gaming in the region, Romania’s slot halls are facing an existential crisis. Over the past two years alone, the number of slot machines in the country has more than halved, dropping from 80,000 to 36,000. A source at a major Romanian operator, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he believed this could drop to just 20,000 or 15,000 by the end of the year. “And this is the optimistic scenario,” he added.
Pressure has been increasing on Romania’s gaming industry for several years. In 2024, the government moved to ban slot halls in towns with fewer than 15,000 residents and introduced stringent zoning and advertising rules. In 2025, the government also approved a series of tax hikes, raising online and retail levies to 27% and 23% of GGR and hiking annual fees by €1,000 per slot machine.
However, the most severe blow came in February. In a shock emergency decision, the central government moved to transfer responsibility for licensing gambling into the hands of the local authorities. As well as veto powers on new gambling venues, councils could decide whether to allow or ban gambling outright. If they chose to allow it, they would be able to set zoning rules and new local taxes.
In a flurry of anti-gambling sentiment, nine councils immediately drafted plans to outlaw slot halls in their districts – including the cities of Slatina, Brăila, Ploiești and Iasi. Meanwhile, Constanta suggested it would be following a similar path, while one of Bucharest’s six districts – District 3 – is currently pushing for a ban in the nation’s capital. “The simplest solution is to eliminate these businesses entirely from the city,” Slatina mayor Mario De Mezzo said at the time. “They are toxic for society.”
A slow death for operators
However, according to BMA Legal, a commercial law firm in Bucharest, gambling venues haven’t been banned overnight. Companies who held an authorisation from the National Office for Gambling (ONJN) when the law was passed were allowed to continue operating – at least for the time being. But when these annual authorisations expire they will either face a ban or need to seek reauthorisation from the local council. As many as 200 localities could move to ban gambling, according to official estimates.
When the new rules came in on February 2024, it wasn’t just industry stakeholders who were left reeling. Councils were also blindsided by this sudden decision, which was introduced without consultation or a transition period. Although the government set a 60-day deadline for drafting proposals, by the time this rolled around in late April, only a handful of localities had formally announced their plans.
Romania gambling has become a ‘Catch-22’
“It has effectively become a Catch-22,” Andrei Frimescu, director of communications at trade body Romslot, explains. “We hold a valid national authorisation, but we cannot operate without a local permit. Yet in order to obtain the new local authorisation, we need that local permit and, in many cases, local authorities are not issuing them, so the industry is blocked.”
This state of paralysis could last some time. Currently, there are no penalties for councils missing the 60-day deadline, so there is no incentive for them to rush. Meanwhile, political turmoil reigns in Bucharest following a successful vote of no confidence that ousted the current government. With the current administration effectively a lame duck, it is unlikely that clarity will come any time soon.
In the meantime, the clock is ticking for operators whose annual authorisations are due to expire in the coming months. Many could fall into regulatory cracks, leading to a gradual erosion of operators from the market.
Patchwork of legislation
As the industry waits to see what decisions are made town by town, the law remains shrouded in confusion. Concerningly, most councils lack the expertise to understand how to effectively regulate or tax the sector.
“The lack of a transition phase has amplified unpredictability, making it difficult for operators to plan investments or even maintain existing operations,” summarises Dan Ghita, chairman of the betting association Rombet. “If widely applied, this model risks creating inconsistent regulatory environments across the country, which undermines the concept of a unified national market and the concept of the state monopoly (on lotteries).”
Indeed, in the months following the new emergency decision, the responses from councils have varied widely.
Many politicians have rushed to call for a blanket ban on gambling in Romania. These primarily come from the centre-right Save Romania Union Party, who led the charge to put more powers in the hands of local authorities. Others favour partial restrictions, such as banning slot machines while allowing the national lottery and sports betting to continue. Others have floated significantly higher taxes – in some cases up to €1,500 per square metre – or penned creative specifications for the appearance of new gambling venues.
Legal challenges
“The councils are coming up with some very interesting and diverse ideas, like confining gambling to outside of the city limits or to buildings with an attractive facade,” says Frimescu. “But the fact is that the law doesn’t give the local authorities this kind of power.”
As Romslot points out, the only decisions councils are allowed to make are on taxes, zoning and the question of a total ban. If they opt to ban gambling, the association says, they cannot cherry pick which sectors they want to keep. With cities such as Iasi planning to ban slot halls and keep sports betting and lotteries, there are likely to be a number of battles in court.
Narcis Bogoiu, a partner at BMA Legal, says he expected extensive litigation, with operators challenging restrictive and inconsistent local rules or appealing blanket refusals.
Industry consolidation
For years, Romania has boasted one of the largest gambling markets in eastern Europe, underpinned by a strong land-based sector. In 2025, brick-and-mortar gaming was worth around €1.67 billion annually, making up around a third of the total market, according to data from H2 Gambling Capital.
Over the course of the last two decades, much of the industry growth in the region has been driven by the proliferation of slot halls. Currently, around 1,310 official gaming halls exist across the nation, run by around 69 licensed operators. However, the latest regulatory attacks on the industry – and gaming halls in particular – are accelerating closures and driving consolidation.
“There has been visible consolidation, especially around operators with online scale and strong local brands,” says Bogoiu, citing Evoke’s acquisition of Winner.ro in 2024 and Super Technologies’ recent move to acquire MaxBet’s Romanian and Maltese operations. “The main driver still looks commercial, but regulatory and tax pressures clearly amplify the logic of consolidation.”
Shift to online operations
Increasingly, the gambling operators of Romania are seeing their future online – or, at the very least, as omnichannel businesses. Game World, a leading land-based operator, is one of the brands considering opening an online operation. According to a spokesperson, this move has become more urgent in the wake of the February decision. According to Rombet, an omnichannel strategy is “essential” in the current market. “Purely land-based models can still survive, but they are becoming less resilient and more niche,” says Ghita.
According to Frimescu, some operators have decided to close many of their land-based operations entirely. “One major operator has already closed 60 locations and is planning to shut down a further 100,” he says. “In total, around 160 venues are being withdrawn from the market. At each closed location, notices have been posted on the facade informing customers that they have moved online.”
This trend is reflected in the latest data. From 52% in 2023, online gambling now accounts for around 71% of the Romanian market, according to H2 figures. This is expected to grow even further in the coming years.
Boost for the black market
As the licensed industry remains in limbo, there are fears that the uncertainty is fuelling the rise of Romania’s already buoyant black market. “International experience consistently shows that banning or excessively restricting a regulated activity does not eliminate demand – it redirects it,” says Rombet’s Ghita. “In Romania, widespread local bans or excessive taxation would likely push players toward illegal, unlicensed operators, reduce tax revenues, lead to job losses and weaken regulatory oversight.”
According to Ghita, Romania is now at a “critical turning point”, where the next steps will decide whether the market remains sustainable or becomes over-regulated. Already, he explains, operators are “prioritising compliance over expansion, delaying or scaling down new investments, reassessing long-term strategies”.
New restrictions to Romania’s gambling sector
Currently, the direction of travel does not look promising. Anti-gambling sentiment in Romania continues to thrive – partly driven by the rapid move of new gambling venues into the cities following the 2024 ‘small town’ ban.
Since February, two new restrictions have also been in the pipeline – an increase in the legal gambling age to 21 and a new bill to curb advertising – which could prohibit ads online and the use of public figures. These could represent a further squeeze on operators at an already tense time.
“Operators should watch: first, whether those two bills pass in substantially the same form; second, how municipalities draft their local gambling regulations inside the new 2026 framework; and third, whether ONJN issues further operational guidance around local authorisation,” concludes BMA Legal’s Bogoiu.
The answers to these questions will say much about the future of Romania’s gambling industry.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/regulation/romania-gambling-reform-leaves-landbased-in-limbo/
