The practice of gambling in 2023
Opinion regarding the practice of the new provisions, adopted by GEO 82 of 2023, in the gambling activity in Romania
Article from the series “Gambling Practice“, by Anchidim Zăgrean, FedBet Vice President and President of ROMBET
As a result of the adoption, by the Government of Romania, of the Emergency Ordinance no. 82 of 2023, published in the Official Gazette no. 905 on October 6, 2023, below you can find a series of considerations on the measures that must be taken by gambling organizers, in order to comply with the new regulations, rules officially entered into force, in the vast majority, on the date when were officially published.
The most important changes, adopted as an emergency, with the motivation to ensure a “economic-financial discipline but also for setting the rules of taxation correlated with the fiscal potential of gambling” but also reaching the final goal regarding “ensuring a sustainable and strategic development of the gambling market”, and all this, “constitutes an extraordinary situation whose regulation cannot be postponed”, thus, “it is necessary to adopt immediate measures through the emergency ordinance”, are summarized below, as follows:
1) The right to organize and operate gambling in Romania is granted exclusively to legal entities registered in Romania or legal entities legally constituted in a member state of the European Union or in signatory states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area or of the Swiss Confederation, which have registered a permanent establishment in Romania. In this sense, in order to comply with the new restrictions imposed, licensed legal entities have a period of 6 months to carry out all the necessary diligence, by choosing one of the solutions provided by the law, in order to obtain the right to continue organizing and exploiting gambling, legally, in Romania;
2) The gambling are operated directly by the license holder or, by way of exception, they can be operated jointly, by 2 or more organizers gambling, each licensed according to the law, or legal entities under common control with organizers of gambling licensed according to the law, between which there is a contract concluded under the terms of the law, the liability falling to the contracting parties. In practice, the possibility of gambling being exploited also by a natural or legal person who does not legally hold a license for that type of game has been eliminated;
3) Advertising by sending unsolicited electronic messages containing information about one or more gambling and outdoor advertising for gambling, exceeding the size of 35 m2/panel/advertising material, are prohibited;
4) Traditional gambling are operated only in specialized locations, of course after the authorizations of the gambling devices that are located and currently operated in other locations will expire;
5) Granting the right to organize and exploit temporary gambling, only for those of the casino type, for a period of 3 months, only in tourist resorts, obviously after the expiration of the authorizations in force on the date of publication of the new regulations;
6) Slot-machine gambling with limited risk were eliminated, specifying that after the expiration of the valid authorizations, at the time of publication of the normative act, it will not be possible to renew or grant new authorizations for this type of game;
7) It is established next to O.N.J.N. an activity fully financed from own revenues, secured from the contributions of licensed gambling organizers, with the following annual contributions:
a) remote gambling organizers licensed from class I – 500,000 euro annually;
b) legal entities directly involved in the field of traditional and remote gambling licensed from class II – 15,000 euro annually;
c) class III state monopoly remote games – 100,000 euro annually;
d) licensed traditional gambling operators, as follows:
– for lotto games: 200,000 euro annually;
– for video lottery games: 100 euro for each device annually;
– for mutual bets: 50,000 euro annually;
– for fixed odds bets: 200,000 euro annually;
– for counter bets: 100,000 euro annually;
– for gambling characteristic of casinos: 4,000 euro annually for each game table;
– for the characteristic games of the poker club: 5,000 euro annually for each club;
– for slot-machine type games, it will be applied in stages as follows:
* 100 euro annually, for each authorized slot, proportional to the time period remaining after the entry into force of the emergency ordinance, for the year 2023;
* 300 euro annually for each authorized slot during 2024;
* 500 euro annually for each authorized slot during 2025 and the following years;
– for bingo games held in gaming halls: 5,000 euro annually;
– for bingo games organized through the television network systems: 500,000 euro annually.
Due to the fact that the payment term, for these contributions, is established by law, as follows: for the first calendar year of granting the license, within 10 days from the date of approval of the documentation, and for the following years, until January 25 of of each calendar year, it follows that for the organizers of gambling or related activities, who hold valid licenses on October 6, 2023, the payment deadline, for the new level of contributions, cannot exceed January 25, 2024. Here we have a paradox, represented by the fact that those who will obtain a license in 2023 are obliged to pay the new contribution levels within 10 days from the date of approval of the documentation, regardless of the remaining licensing period until the end of the year, except slot-machine activity, which must pay 100 euro annually, for each authorized slot, proportional to the time period remaining until the end of 2023.
8) The obligation to create and keep up-to-date by O.N.J.N. of a public register, accessible online, which will include:
a) commercial name and company name, for operators licensed/authorized to carry out activities regulated by the normative act;
b) address of the operator’s headquarters;
c) the address of each commercial space where the operator exploits gambling, with the indication of the types of gambling authorized for the respective location;
d) the series and the address where each licensed/authorized gaming device is located for the respective operator;
(to be continued in the next issue)
