Vlad Soare, President Federation of Gambling Organizers – FEDBET

What does the Federation represent in the current context?
The Federation of Gambling Organizers – FEDBET is the instrument through which the entire industry presents itself to the authorities as one voice. In the face of these difficult challenges to which we are subjected, the worst strategy would have been for each association to have followed its own communication strategy. If each association had presented itself to the authorities with different messages, with different proposed amendments, with partially different interests, we would have lost the strength we have.
The Federation managed to harmonize the specific interests of each association, managed to be the place where the preliminary discussions were held and then, we presented ourselves to the industry as one force and with a common communication strategy.

What plans do you have as President of the Federation?
First of all, it should be noted that the Federation has been active since March 2023. During all this time we have managed to ensure everything necessary for its operation from an administrative point of view, we have highly qualified dedicated staff with a lot of experience and a headquarters large enough to be a hub for members’ meetings, with ongoing activity.
Secondly, I think we need to continue the harmonization efforts between the members and ensure the co-opting of new members.
From this perspective, it must be understood that the federation is not another association or a substitute for any association. Next there will be specific branch associations that will fight for individual interests. Instead, the Federation must encompass all these associations to be the place where, on the one hand, the associations can harmonize their interests and, on the other hand, common communication strategies would be created and we could represent the whole industry on these issues .
Of course, together with my team we have several plans that we want, but all decisions in the Federation are made following discussions with the Board of Directors, with the Advisory Board, made up of specialists, respectively with the General Assembly made up of the members of the federation. We care a lot about transparency and the involvement of those in the industry. In this sense, we have a corporate vision on how we want to build the Federation. For example, in addition to the structure I referred to above, each department of the Federation will have an advisory committee, made up of industry specialists. Thus, specialists from the marketing or legal departments (and so on) will be co-opted to work together in these consultative structures, under the supervision of the committee president in the person of the person responsible for that field within the Federation. Through this way of working we will always have feedback from the industry and we will have useful information that the General Assembly, the Advisory Board and the Board of Directors can analyze before making a decision.

How many members does FedBet have?
Being a Federation, we can only have members but associates. We are looking for a legal solution so that we can provide a status, perhaps advisory to those who want to be part of the Federation, but do not want to be part of a specific association. At the same time, we will also extend an invitation to the Romanian Lottery to join us as an honorary member.
Currently, FEDBET has two members: ROMBET and Romanian Bookmakers.
At the same time, we have an excellent collaboration with ROMSLOT. Practically everything we did during this period, we did together with Romslot, and for all this excellent collaboration I must be grateful to Mr. Sorin Georgescu, the President of Romslot. I have to admit that these challenges we went through brought us very close and already ROMSLOT, through Sorin, occupies a de facto place in the Board of Directors, the Advisory Board and the General Assembly. But since things must take a de jure form, we agreed to work together to formalize this marriage, so that ROMSLOT becomes a FEDBET member as soon as possible. It is a natural step that we want and we would be extremely happy if it were to succeed.

What is the Federation team?
First, our existence would not be possible without the members of the Federation. In this sense, we have two vice-presidents, one from Romanian Bookmakers, in the person of Mr. Liviu Popovici and one from Rombet, in the person of Mr. Anchidim Zăgrean. Of course, with the entry of Romslot into the Federation, the team will increase.
Secondly, we have an Advisory Board made up of specialists from the industry, but also from specialists in areas of interest to us such as: legal, where I want to thank our lawyer very much for the effort during this period, Mrs. Teodora Luca, marketing, addiction, economic, public affairs.
Thirdly, we have the team from our headquarters that is full time involved in this project. The executive director, without whom I can no longer see myself working, Mr. Constantin Bratu, a person with extraordinary experience in associative structures and in the management of corporate teams, together with our administrative staff who keep the federation functional.
Last but not least, I have to thank Romanian Bookmakers and Romslot for making their specialists available to us, whom I borrowed and, frankly, I don’t see how we could continue without them.

What do you think regarding the current state of the gambling industry?
The current situation is extremely difficult. We are about to experience the consequences of some legislative projects based on simple perceptions, without taking into account the reality in which we find ourselves.
Through these legislative projects:
1. An industry that has a budgetary impact of more than 1.6 billion euro is being closed (only the land-based produces these figures, without taking online into account).
2. More than 40,000 people become unemployed.
3. Organized crime will reach unprecedented levels in our society.
4. Sport, the Romanian Olympic Sports Committee, the Cultural Fund and Cinematography lose their funding.
5. Everything will move to the black economy and studies done in other countries show us that addiction is not decreasing; instead, it increases the vulnerability of players who will choose to enter unauthorized halls.
6. The Romanian Lottery will go bankrupt.
What are the prerequisites?
1. We don’t have any study, although we campaign for a study. The only study cited by the initiators is a fake (it does not exist).
2. The proposed measures are not taken by specialists and we do not know if they will have the desired effect.
3. We have the highest collection rate of 99%, compared to a national average of just over 30%.
4. By reference to other industries that address adults, the “negative” figures regarding our industry are much smaller. Instead, the restrictions proposed for our industry would be much greater, an aspect that raises constitutional issues by reference to art. 53 of the Constitution.
5. Annually we pay 40 million euro in vice tax, plus several million in responsible gambling promotion tax. How many addiction treatment centers (of any kind) has the state made from this money? How many educational programs has the state made from this money? Zero. The industry also makes programs with its own money (see the programs of the Responsible Gambling Association), although it pays taxes for the state to do them.
We are an entertainment industry, obviously things can be improved and we are working on it. We want to be a dialogue partner so that together with the state authorities we can find the best solutions for the consumer, but to do this we must have the patience to listen to each other.
FEDBET does an almost exhaustive job of explaining all these aspects in Parliament.

How do you see the future of gambling?
I like to think that we will get through this electoral process that we are going through, but at the same time we will learn from it.
In this sense, I think it is important to be better organized, especially in quiet moments.
Before there is the state of liability, there is the state of responsibility. And we, as an industry, must be responsible in the way we choose to communicate, in the way we are visible, in the way we are attentive to the vulnerabilities facing the industry (presence of minors in the halls, identification of vulnerable people or in situations of risk) and in how we choose to do projects together, ahead of time.

Does FedBet address the traditional or online gambling sector?
As I said, there are specific problems that each association deals with, but there are also problems that concern the whole industry, which the Federation has to deal with.
Thus, FEDBET is the cross-industry representative, both for the land-based and online sectors. In this sense, the most important online operators are among the companies that are already associated with the Federation.
Of course, our door is open to all industry associations.

How will digitization affect the industry?
I don’t think it will affect us negatively. We need not fear progress. The more we present greater safeguards for the safety of gaming machines, the consumer and how the state can exercise control over us, the more these negative perceptions we currently face will cease. Digitization can be an extremely useful resource for us.
Instead, she doesn’t just have to look at the operators. Digitization must also be done at ONJN, where I trust that the current management will make efforts in this direction.

How is FedBet’s relationship with state authorities?
As for the relationship with ONJN, it is very good. We have direct and honest communication.
As for the relationship with the rest of the authorities, especially the Parliament and the Government, it is on an upward trend. We struggle with a lot of perceptions and then the first reaction of politicians is rejection. Later, after we have discussions and he notices that we come with solid arguments for why the proposed measures are not the best, but we do not stop here, at simple criticism, but go further, offering options that we are willing to undertake, he begins a functional dialogue. Basically we try not to have an antagonistic attitude. It is important to regain trust in each other and listen to each other’s fears. If we succeed in this first step, we will certainly end up identifying what the best solutions are.

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