The modification and completion of some normative acts in the gaming field
Series of articles from “The Practice of Gambling” by Anchidim Zagrean, Rombet Vice-President
Recently a series of modifications and completions have been brought to the special regulations of the gaming activity, as well as to their adjacent activities.
Thus, in the Official Gazette no. 942 from November 7th 2018, it was published the Law 250 from 2018, regarding the approval of the Government’s Emergency Ordinance nr.42/2015 for the modification and completion of several normative acts from the gaming field, coming into force in three days after its publication, as provided by art.78 from the Romanian Constitution.
In essence, the modifications brought refer to:
1. The elimination of all the posters, visible from outside the gaming sites, containing values or goods offered as: bonuses, promotions or jackpots – either real or simulated.
For conformation, in the gaming practice, there must be known the notions this norm makes reference to:
a) bonus – the benefit which can be obtained by the player in addition, without perceiving any tax or additional costs, in the conditions provided in the organizer’s game regulation, in a given period or for certain events;
b) promotion – the practice of promotion, performed by the gaming organizers, awarding promotional prizes as goods or values;
c) jackpot – supplementary award system, by cumulating the values allocated, from several slot-machines, the awarding of the prizes being made by a random algorithm.
The non-compliance with this provision is sanctioned with contravention fine between 50.000 and 100.000 lei with the possibility of taking a complementary measure, function to the consequences produced, of revocation of the gaming license.
2. For the obtainment of the gaming license, it is necessary, among other conditions, the legal representative’s statement on sole liability, from which it turns out that:
”against the legal entity or its representatives there haven’t been taken any administrative measures – of cancellation, revocation or suspension of the gaming license or it is not in a procedure of application of some administrative measures, in accordance with the hereby emergency ordinance, for a period of one year before filing the license application„
This provision would practically put in impossibility of obtaining a new license all those who, in the last year, had been informed that any of the administrative measures provided above was initiated against them, and the biggest problem was for the holders of slot-machines, who could not obtain a new license, if their authorization had been suspended in the last year for a single machine.
Under these circumstances, by the new regulation, for the awarding of a gaming license, the legal representative’s statement must state that:
”against the legal entity there haven’t been taken any administrative measures – of cancellation, revocation or suspension of the a license or of the entire activity performed by the gaming operator, for a period of one year before filing the license application„
3. The possibility, awarded by the ONJN Supervision Committee, to suspend the gaming operators’ activity as well as the 2nd class licensees, at the motivated proposal of the specialized departments from ONJN, until the termination of the situation having generated the suspension;
4. The exception of the gaming organizers from the obligation of holding a 2nd class license for a period of 6 months from the termination of the activity, for any reason and under any form, in view of selling the gaming means held in property.
We’ll be back with new opinions, in the future edition of the magazine…
