In a booming market of the online gaming, events that are dedicated to this phenomenon continue. Thus, on May 24th, Prague was the host of the second edition of EGR Online Gambling Briefing – Eastern Europe, attended also by Dan Iliovici, senior vice president of the ROMBET association.
„After the success of the first edition of EGR Online Gambling Briefing last year, I returned to Prague in 2016 to discuss about about the novelties in e-gaming and about the situation in this field in the Eastern Europe area. Mr. Dan Iliovici’s presence, representing Rombet, was a great honor for us and we hope to have him join us at future editions, „commented Gerard Starkey, EGR acting editor and host of the event.
‹A rare opportunity – an update of the online gambling market in Romania “was the title of the presentation made by the vice president of Rombet which opened the panels and focused on the opportunities that the local online gambling market has to offer. “We already have 19 operators who have the right to operate and approximately 50 suppliers of related services, including payment processors, software vendors, auditors or companies that already have a class II certification.Similar to the events which our association attended to in recent months, we were glad to see a high interest for the market in our country, interest proven by the multitude of questions that our delegation received from those present, “said the Rombet VP.
Besides Dan Iliovici, Mrs.Theodora Luca, lawyer associate of Rombet, specialist with 15 year experience in the gaming sector and member of the Advisory Board of the National Office of Gambling, talked about the industry in our country. Her presentation provided an opportunity for those interested in our country to learn more about the conditions and the licensing process for operators of online gambling, the more so as Romania stands out at Eastern Europe level as an active market with legislation in effect, with rules of application, as well as new strategic directions for the development of responsible gaming projects. The event was attended also by Mr. Per Widerstrom, CEO of Fortuna Entertainment Group, ROMBET member, who gave a presentation on how barriers to the development of the gambling industry in Eastern Europecan be overcome.
Representatives from Poland or the Czech Republic, countries where the gambling industry is on the list of priority areas, were also present. Jan Rehola, former director of Gambling Department, the market regulator in the Czech Republic, and lawyer with extensive experience in the gambling legislation, spoke at length about the adoption by the host of the event of the new law on gambling spoken about since last year. After ratification by the President, the law is expected to be published in the Official Gazette, thus achieving another important step in Czech Republic’s efforts to strengthen and to increase trust in the gambling industry from the authorities and the general public.
Regarding Poland and its further progress in the field of gambling, Rombet vice president said:
“As those present in Prague emphasized, the urgent need of funds will determine the Polish government to overcome current detentions regarding gambling and adopt comprehensive changes in legislation soon”, adding that “We are dealing with a prohibitive tax of 12% of revenue (iN), which led to a “thriving” black market of online gambling. Next period promises to be very hot and projections on the future of online gambling market in Poland are among the most optimistic”.
The conclusions of the event in Prague reiterated the finding that the regulation of the gambling industry in Romania is a model of good practices for neighboring countries in Eastern Europe. “It is necessary now, more than ever, for the operators to combine their strengths to accelerate the development of responsible gambling industry in Romania, and the next step will be the establishment of the Foundation for Public Interest dedicated to a game socially responsible, an absolute priority and an important project on our association list of activities, which will continue to be present at all the important events for the gambling industry, “concluded Dan Alexandru Ghita, President of Rombet.
