Romania’s gambling market has undergone significant changes in a short period. The land-based sector, particularly slots, has contracted sharply following tighter rules, including 2024 restrictions on gambling venues in smaller municipalities and, more recently, a requirement for local council approval for slot-machine licences.
Over the summer, the regulator, ONJN, has faced scrutiny over corruption investigations involving current and former senior officials. The regulator is also stepping up its response to illegal online gambling, investing in digital monitoring tools, including technology to detect clone and mirror websites. Self-exclusion has recently been moved towards a more secure and accessible system, although further improvements are still needed.
Against this backdrop, Valentin Tomescu has been appointed as the new ONJN President, replacing Vlad Soare, in the latest leadership change at the regulator. This stems from a Government decision that did not publicly state the reason for the leadership change.
Global Gaming Insider spoke to Alexandru Domșa, President of the Federation of Gambling Operators in Romania (Fedbet), about the troubles facing the regulator and efforts to step up enforcement against the illegal gambling market.
Stay tuned, as Domșa will also discuss the contraction in the land-based sector in one of our upcoming magazine features.
ONJN has faced scrutiny following recent DNA investigations. Do these cases point to isolated misconduct or wider governance concerns, and what does the industry need to see from the regulator to restore confidence?
It would be premature to draw conclusions about systemic governance problems based solely on ongoing criminal investigations. The facts and individual responsibilities must be established by the competent authorities.
At the same time, the investigations underline the importance of strong institutional safeguards. From the industry’s perspective, restoring confidence requires transparent procedures, consistent enforcement and effective internal controls.
The objective should be an institution in which both licensed operators and the public can have confidence that the same rules apply to everyone.
What are your views on Valentin Tomescu’s appointment as president of ONJN, and what would you like to see as his initial priorities?
It is in everyone’s interest – the authorities’, the industry’s and consumers’ – that the gambling market operates within a legal, fair and well-regulated framework. That is why we consider it essential that ONJN’s efforts to combat the illegal market continue and intensify.
We would also like to see the new leadership focus on institutional stability, digitalisation and effective communication with licensed operators, as well as ensuring that future regulatory changes are developed through a clear, transparent and evidence-based process.
How would you assess ONJN’s investment in digital monitoring tools aimed at identifying and addressing illegal online gambling?
We see digitalisation and technological enforcement as essential components of an effective regulatory framework. The recent contraction of the regulated land-based market makes the fight against illegal online gambling even more important. The number of platforms on ONJN’s blacklist had reached more than 1,800 by August 2026.
We would like to see the new leadership focus on institutional stability, digitalisation and effective communication with licensed operators
This illustrates an important point: restricting the regulated offer does not necessarily eliminate demand. Effective enforcement against unlicensed operators must therefore develop in parallel with any restrictions imposed on the legal market.
Digital monitoring tools can make enforcement faster and more scalable, but they need to be backed by effective procedures and cooperation with internet service providers, payment providers and other relevant stakeholders.
What impact could ONJN’s new clone and mirror detection system have on the ability of unlicensed operators to reach Romanian players?
It could significantly improve the regulator’s ability to respond to illegal operators. One of the fundamental challenges online is that blocking a single domain does not necessarily eliminate the underlying operation. Illegal platforms can reappear under mirror or clone domains.
A system capable of identifying these relationships allows the regulator to move from a reactive, domain-by-domain approach towards a more systematic detection of illegal networks.
What changes would you like to see in Romania’s approach to player protection and self-exclusion?
Self-exclusion should be universal across the regulated market, easy to activate, secure and enforceable across all licensed operators. A player’s self-exclusion should effectively follow them across the entire regulated market, rather than requiring separate procedures with individual operators.
At the same time, player protection needs to take into account the existence of an illegal market. If legal points of sale or licensed platforms disappear without reducing demand, consumers may migrate towards operators that do not apply the same responsible-gambling measures, identity verification or self-exclusion mechanisms.
The objective should therefore be a strong regulated environment: effective self-exclusion, responsible-gambling tools, robust age and identity verification, and much stronger enforcement against illegal operators.
Former ONJN President Soare reported that Romania’s regulated market fell from almost 60,000 gaming machines to around 23,000 during his tenure
