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
Continuation of the previous article
9) Gambling organizers are obliged not to allow self-excluded and undesirable persons who are found in the database on self-excluded and undesirable persons, created, managed and permanently updated by O.N.J.N., database to which gambling organizers have access in real time. Requests for self-exclusion can be submitted to O.N.J.N. or to gambling organizers. Gambling organizers have the obligation to transmit to the O.N.J.N. self-exclusion requests, within two working days from the date of registration, and the lists including persons who, by internal decisions of the organizers, were declared undesirable, together with the reasons that were the basis of this measure, within 5 working days of on the date of preparation or modification. Any activity that involves the processing of personal data, carried out in application of the provisions relating to the organization and development of gambling activities, for natural persons, is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 regarding the protection of natural persons regarding the processing of personal data and regarding the free movement of such data. Until the operationalization of this database, but no later than March 31, 2024, gambling organizers have the obligation not to allow access to the premises of the premises, where gambling activities are carried out, to persons who have formulated in written self-exclusion requests;
10) The declaration and payment of the authorization fee becomes monthly also for casinos, poker clubs or slot machines with the mention that these operations must be carried out in advance, for the following month but also with the possibility of benefiting from a 10% bonus if make the payment for the entire year, in advance, until the 25th of the month following the one in which the documentation was approved. Of course, these changes can also be put into practice only for authorizations obtained after the publication of the new regulations;
11) Commercial activities involving the sale of alcoholic beverages by the organizer or a third party may not be carried out in the spaces where the slot-machine type activity is carried out, including in the betting agencies, as the main activity. Any other activity provided for in the emergency ordinance can be carried out, directly by the organizer, if it complies with the licensing and authorization conditions. The location where this type of activity is carried out cannot have a common entrance with a space where alcoholic beverages are sold. Also, any form of access between a location of this type and a commercial space where alcoholic beverages are sold is prohibited, including through a communication door between the two types of spaces;
12) Economic operators who hold a license to organize gambling and exploit, based on a license to operate gambling, slot-machine type games, can organize «jack-pot» type systems by interconnecting slot-machine type games from a location, if “mystery” game systems are used, or of devices of the same type, if “progressive” game systems are used. The organizers of the «jack-pot» type systems, for each system, apply to the O.N.J.N. the amendment of the Game Regulations, prior to the start of the operation of the activity, and within the Game Regulations must describe the defining parameters of the random prize awarding algorithm, as well as the maximum value of the prizes that can be reached, the series of slot-machine type games interconnected in the system and the location/locations where they are exploited. Gambling organizers are obliged to inform O.N.J.N. with regard to moving the means of play, for which they have an exploitation authorization, prior to the operation and can proceed to move them only on the basis of the O.N.J.N.’s opinion. For the organization of the «jack-pot» type system, the cumulative fulfillment of the following minimum conditions is necessary: the same online connection system of the game means, having the same communication protocol, specialized software and random algorithm for awarding the prize, as well as the obligation as the result from the “jack-pot” system to be automatically transferred to the credit position of the gambling machine;
13) Guarantees can be constituted by:
a) recording of funds at the State Treasury unit to which the fiscal body is assigned;
b) bank guarantee letter(s) issued by a banking company. In its content, the issuer will expressly mention that it undertakes irrevocably and unconditionally, expressly renouncing the benefit of discussion, opposition and division, to pay the outstanding fiscal obligations in the account indicated by the territorial fiscal body responsible for the fiscal administration of the respective taxpayer.
c) guarantee insurance policy issued by an insurance company based in a member state of the European Union, a signatory state of the Agreement on the European Economic Area or a state of the Swiss Confederation.
14) The level of guarantees, to cover the risk of non-payment of the gambling organizers’ obligations, is as follows:
1) for the activity of traditional gambling, with the exception of casinos:
– for the year 2024 it is calculated according to the income level of the organizer, as follows:
Income level calculated according to art. 1*1____________________Guarantee
Up to 5,000,000 euro/year________________________________________500,000 euro
5,000,001-20,000,000 euro/year___________________________________800,000 euro
Over 20,000,001 euro_____________________________________________1,000,000 euro
– from January 1, 2025, the guarantee is 1,000,000 euro, regardless of the income level of the organizer;
2) 3,000,000 euro for traditional game casino activity;
3) for online gambling activity, except for online casinos:
– for the year 2024 it is calculated according to the income level of the organizer, as follows:
Income level calculated according to art. 1*1______________Guarantee
Up to 5,000,000 euro/year__________________________________500,000 euro
5,000,001-20,000,000 euro/year_____________________________1,000,000 euro
Over 20,000,001 euro_______________________________________2,000,000 euro
– from January 1, 2025, the guarantee is 2,000,000 euro, regardless of the income level of the organizer;
4) for online casino activity:
– for the year 2024 it is calculated according to the income level of the organizer, as follows:
Income level calculated according to art. 1*1________________Guarantee
Up to 5,000,000 euro/year___________________________________1,000,000 euro
5,000,001-20,000,000 euro/year______________________________2,000,000 euro
Over 20,000,001 euro________________________________________5,000,000 euro
– from January 1, 2025, the guarantee is 5,000,000 euro, regardless of the income level of the organizer;
15) The vice tax for slot-machine and video lottery games of chance (VLT) are set at a level of 500 euro/authorized post/year and the declaration and payment are made monthly, as follows:
1) for the first month – up to and including the 25th of the month following the one in which the documentation was approved;
2) for the other 11 months – up to and including the 25th of each month, for the following month;
16) The value in lei of both gambling fees and guarantees, set in euro currency, is determined by converting the amounts expressed into euro equivalents, based on the exchange rate established on the first working day of October of the year preceding the moment payment due, as published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
We’ll be back with other opinions in the next issue of the magazine…
