Romanian government demands answers over gambling regulator’s supervision failings 

The leader of the ONJN has been summoned to parliament to explain the damning audit report.

Romania.- Diana Stoica, a deputy with the Save Romania Union Party (USR), has summoned the leadership of the ONJN to parliament to provide answers after the Court of Accounts (CCR) called for a criminal investigation into serious failings at the national gambling regulator.

The CCR’s audit of the ONJN found serious irregularities in the regulator’s auditing of gambling licences, including supervision of authorisation fees and gambling tax. The regulator was found to have failed to enforce a legal requirement to gain remote access to online gambling licensees’ systems, which prevented it from being able to verify transaction data.

This meant that the ONJN failed to detect potential discrepancies in return-to-player (RTP) levels that may have caused the state to lose between 3.3 and 4.3bn lei (€630m to €900m) in gambling tax revenues. The audit found that the regulator had never verified financial data submitted by gambling companies, failed to verify gambling licence fees and had not issued penalties when required. 

Stoica has demanded that the ONJN give answers to an IT Committee, describing the situation as “scandalous”. She said the regulator must be held accountable and provide urgent remedies. “The heads of ONJN facilitated a huge fraud and enabled the destruction of lives,” she said. “In 2023 alone, Romanians spent 12.5 billion lei on online gambling, but the ONJN failed to fulfil its basic legal duties.”

Senator Ciprian Rus, the chair of the IT Committee, backed the call for an investigation. He said: “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 illegalities will not be repeated.”

The current president of the ONJN is Gheorghe-Gabriel Gheorghe, who was appointed in 2023 as the fifth president of the regulator since 2018. The Ministry of Finance caused controversy last year when it appointed the celebrity hairstylist Cristian-Gabriel Pascu as vice-president of the ONJN. His appointment was revoked within days. 

Last year, the Romanian parliament approved Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s executive order banning gambling in small rural towns. The latest scandal is likely to put more pressure on the government to introduce further reforms.