Romania’s shrinking slot market: Assessing the impact of stricter rules

Romania’s gambling market has changed significantly in a short period of time. The land-based sector, especially slot machines, has contracted sharply as regulations have tightened. In 2024, restrictions were introduced on slot-machine venues in smaller municipalities with fewer than 15,000 inhabitants. More recently, Ordinance 7/2026, which took effect in February 2026, empowered local authorities to either prohibit gambling activities or regulate them at the local level. Local authorities were given 60 days to establish the necessary local framework, but many had not adopted regulations by the deadline or even as of now. The lack of local regulatory frameworks has created significant uncertainty for operators as their licences expire. 

How would you assess the impact of the 2024 legislation and Emergency Ordinance 7/2026 on Romania’s land-based gaming market? Are there any figures that illustrate how the market has changed? 

The contraction of Romania’s land-based gaming market has been substantial. The process started with the 2024 legislation and accelerated significantly following Emergency Ordinance 7/2026. With the entry into force of the 2024 legislation, gaming machines disappeared from many affected localities, with little visibility into where they ended up or whether some moved into the unregulated market. According to the National Office for Gambling (ONJN), the number of authorised slot machines fell from approximately 77.000 to 55.000 after this legislation entered into force, meaning around 22.000 machines were no longer reauthorised. ONJN itself has acknowledged that a part of these machines could be operated illegally outside the system monitored by the authority, and that this risk has been confirmed in practice.