Parliament in Romania Orders ONJN Leadership to Explain Serious Failings

Parliament has ordered the leadership team of the National Office for Gambling of Romania (ONJN) to explain serious failings and irregularities.

ONJN’s widespread regulatory failings were discovered after an audit by the Romanian Court of Accounts (CCR). Headline figures suggest that the Balkan country could have foregone as much as €900 million in taxes due to the regulator’s shortcomings.

Angry Political Reaction to ONJN’s Failures in Romania

The Deputy of the Romania Union Party, Diana Stoica, filed the summons, who lambasted ONJN’s leadership for “scandalous failings” and demanded they explain themselves before an IT Committee.

According to the audit, the ONJN’s failure to enforce correct taxation procedures resulted in:

• Up to RON 1.8 billion (€365 million) in undeclared fees in 2023.
• RON 1.2 billion (€243 million) in undeclared fees in 2022.
• Significant tax revenue gaps between 2019 and 2021.

Stoica reiterated her demands for answers, and corrective action. She commented: “The heads of ONJN facilitated a huge fraud and enabled the destruction of lives. While in 2023 alone, Romanians spent 12.5 billion lei on online gambling. ONJN failed to fulfil its basic legal duties.”

The Minister urged Parliament to ensure that ONJN is held accountable and that significant change is implemented at the organizational level.

Senator Ciprian Rus, who chairs Romania’s IT Committee added: “The passive attitude and tacit complicity of ONJN leadership demonstrate either gross incompetence or systemic corruption. We demand clear answers and firm commitments to ensure such illegalities will not be repeated.”

The CCR’s audit found that one of ONJN’s largest errors was effectively giving licensed operators free reign over the revenue reporting figures. In Malta, Return-to-Player (RTP) rates were lowered from 92 percent to 85 percent in 2021.

The ONJN allegedly never implemented a secure monitoring terminal that would have allowed access to operator servers and financial records in real time. The lack of proper IT controls also left ONJN no mechanism to cross-check operator revenue figures, leaving a colossal fraud and tax evasion risk.

In recent years, the country has made vast changes to its gambling tax regime. It introduced new license fees, a 2 percent monthly supervision fee, and different tax thresholds. However, according to CCR’s audit, the ONJN failed to enforce its policy properly.

Parliament will review potential legislative action, including those proposed by the USR party. Critics of the regulator’s failures argue that crypto casino and other illicit operators have thrived due to mismanagement and corruption at the highest echelons of Romania’s authority.