ONJN President Pledges Return to Accountability for Romania Gambling In 2026 > 자유게시판

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ONJN, Romania's National Office for Gambling, has set out its programme for 2026 focused on enhancing compliance enforcement and bring back regulatory standards throughout the market.

Vlad Soare: ONJN

The objectives of the programme have actually been pledged by ONJN President Vlad-Cristian Soare, who has actually positioned the method as an essential step to bring back trust and confidence in a regulator whose governance has come under sustained criticism.

Soare assumed management of ONJN in May 2025, following the resignation of previous president Gabriel Gheorghe, who stepped down amidst examination over a series of audit failures. The high-profile failings were connected to regulatory imperfections that supposedly left close to EUR1bn in tax and authorisation charges uncollected.

Reflecting on the regulator's actions in 2025, Soare described the year as a "non-linear and uncomfortable path", however one that nevertheless provided "concrete progress in the fight versus illegal betting and towards greater transparency".

Operating under extreme political scrutiny, Soare specified that ONJN had provided "concrete achievements", primarily through enhanced enforcement activity. Actions consisted of the confiscation of more than 200 gaming devices, the blacklisting of over 200 unlawful gambling websites, and the filing of 48 criminal grievances linked to financial criminal activity and unlicensed operations.

Among the new efforts highlighted was the launch of ONJN's very first WhatsApp reporting channel, enabling members of the general public to alert of suspected illegal video gaming devices and strengthen land-based enforcement. In the digital sector, ONJN reported a 98% takedown rate for illegal gambling material served to Romanian audiences across platforms run by Meta, Google and TikTok.

Enforcement will stay ONJN's main top priority in 2026, supported by the prepared Q1 rollout of two significant systems: a combined National Self-Exclusion plan covering both retail and online gaming, and a geolocation-based QR system incorporated into the regulator's central register.

"Any resident can now validate where gaming devices are located, who owns them and whether they are legal," Soare wrote.

On player safeguards, ONJN will handle a new single self-exclusion procedure, handled entirely by the regulator. The procedure will introduce clear exemption durations, a specified difference between account closure and self-exclusion, and a "cool-off" stage avoiding immediate re-entry.

Further technical upgrades will include automated tracking of deals, rewards and operator statements to spot black-market activity, alongside the launch of a brand-new electronic document platform. The latter will permit all operator interactions with ONJN to occur totally online, supported by a revamped site and a dedicated petitions portal.

ONJN desires modernisation

Knowledgeable about the political analysis surrounding gambling, Soare has supported the overhaul of Romania's Law on Games of Chance. Soare argues that authorities should comply to design a "coherent and effective legislative structure" to change what he referred to as "a morally out-of-date Gambling Law".

End-of-year proceedings saw 20 legislative proposals sent to Parliament, requiring sweeping modifications to the governance of gaming. Revisions under the new four-party "pro-Europe" coalition saw the Liberal Party (PNL) call for Romania's gaming age to be raised to 21, sent under the mandate of "securing the age of innocence".

Elsewhere, coalition member Save Romania Union (USR) sent a series of amendments calling for a ban on untargeted marketing and sports sponsorships. USR has kept that the overhaul of Romanian betting regulation must consist of the disbanding of ONJN, pointing out a loss of trust in its governance across Romanian public organizations.

Back to institutional responsibility

Soare has actually acknowledged that 2026 will be a decisive year for ONJN, with the regulator's future set to be formed by continuous political and regulatory proceedings. He has honestly identified that governance reforms, legal outcomes and parliamentary analysis will eventually determine the authority's long-term function within Romania's betting .

Despite this uncertainty, ONJN has actually repeated its obligation to continue governing Romania's gaming market throughout 2026, maintaining enforcement, licensing oversight and consumer protection measures as structural reforms are discussed at a political level.

As part of this dedication, the regulator has actually allocated EUR5m in funding for 2026 to support regional authorities and civil societies in taking on issue gambling through community-driven prevention, education and intervention initiatives. The programme represents ONJN's first large-scale, structured financial investment in harm-reduction determines supplied by local authorities.