Valentin Tomescu has been appointed president of Romania’s National Gambling Office (ONJN), replacing Vlad Soare following a Government decision that did not publicly state the reason for the leadership change.
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan signed the decisions removing Soare and appointing Tomescu, who previously headed ONJN’s South-East Territorial Service. Tomescu has also held senior positions within the regulator’s supervision and control operations.
The change comes during a period of increased scrutiny of ONJN. Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) carried out searches at the regulator’s headquarters in July as part of an investigation involving officials from its control and authorisation departments.
Prosecutors subsequently announced measures against several individuals in connection with alleged bribery offences.
ONJN said at the time that it was cooperating with investigators. Soare linked the investigation to internal checks and administrative changes undertaken within the regulator, although no connection between the investigation and his subsequent removal has been established.
The leadership change also follows regulatory reforms prompted by findings from Romania’s Court of Accounts. ONJN said this month that a follow-up review confirmed measures had been taken to address deficiencies identified by the audit body. These included increased operator controls, efforts to recover unpaid fees and further monitoring of online gambling.
Soare said he was not informed why he had been removed. In a summary covering his April 2025 to August 2026 tenure, he reported approximately 1,300 illegal gambling sites added to ONJN’s blacklist, 11,000 control actions and around RON10m ($2.2m) in fines.
The regulator also revoked more than 70 licences and confiscated over 300 gaming devices during the period, according to Soare. Romania additionally blocked prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi, while ONJN pursued investigations into possible manipulation of the tax base by gambling operators.
Soare said: “Today I was dismissed from the position of President of ONJN without being informed of the reasons that substantiated the decision.”
Tomescu now takes responsibility for ONJN while work continues on operator taxation, illegal gambling enforcement, self-exclusion and the regulator’s internal controls.
Earlier in August, ONJN reported progress following the Court of Accounts review, including stronger operator controls, online monitoring and measures to recover unpaid fees. The regulator also outlined work on self-exclusion and investigations into alleged GGR manipulation by online operators.
Soare reported that Romania’s regulated market fell from almost 60,000 gaming machines to around 23,000 during his tenure, while the number of organisers declined from more than 200 to fewer than 100
