Romania's Gambling Regulator ONJN Starts Review of the Country's Gambling Legislation

^{The Palace of Parliament in Bucharest. Romania's gambling regulator has started a review of the country's gambling legislation. (Photo: Crislia / Wikimedia Commons)}

Romania's gambling regulator, the Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc (ONJN), has started a review of the legislation that governs the country's gambling market. In a press release dated 30 October 2026, the regulator said its president has changed the make-up of the working group that drafts regulatory acts for the sector.

The group's brief is to analyse and align existing law. The ONJN says the aim is a single, coherent framework that replaces outdated rules, and the release does not name specific provisions that will change or set a timetable. Translations below are our own from the Romanian original.

What the ONJN Wants to Fix

The review is meant to give an overall assessment of the current rules, find provisions that do not fit together, spot overlaps between laws and identify what needs updating. The regulator says the result should be a framework suited to the realities of the industry and to its own supervision and control goals.

The ONJN is blunt about the old approach. It says it is not enough to amend existing legislation one point at a time whenever problems appear, and that an integrated approach is needed to put the whole body of rules in order.

The process aims to create ‘a new legislative architecture’ that replaces outdated rules and removes the fragmentation and inconsistencies that have built up over time, the ONJN said.

The regulator adds that the finished framework should be clear, predictable and workable, giving both the ONJN and operators coherent rules and effective tools to apply them. It describes the review as a necessary step in modernising gambling regulation and strengthening the institution's capacity.

New Leadership Behind the Push

The announcement follows a change at the top. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan appointed Valentin-Ioan Tomescu as ONJN president on 21 August 2026 through decision 284, published in the Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial) number 696 of that date. A companion decision released his predecessor, Vlad-Cristian Soare, from the post.

Tomescu said the first three weeks in office were spent assessing the institution's activity and identifying problems that need immediate intervention. He said an accurate picture was needed before decisions, but that assessment must be followed by concrete measures. He added that some priorities can produce results in the short term, while others need a structural approach and a longer timetable.

What Operators Should Watch

Romania's main gambling law is Emergency Ordinance 77/2009, approved with changes by Law 227/2013 and amended since. A rewrite could touch licensing, taxation and supervision for land-based and online operators, although nothing in the release says which areas come first. Suppliers active in the market, such as 3 Oaks Gaming, which has made moves in Romania and Georgia, will want to see the first draft.

For comparison, the Dutch regulator is working through its own licence renewal cycle. For Romania, the next signal will be whether the working group publishes draft acts for consultation, and when.