Romania’s gambling regulator published a one-year activity report under President Vlad-Cristian Soare, citing more than 300 unlicensed sites blocked, the country’s first state-funded gambling addiction program, and a recent court win that keeps Polymarket on the national blacklist.
Key Takeaways:
€5M Conștient și Liber fund marks Romania’s first state funding for gambling addiction treatment Romanian court rejected Polymarket’s suspension request on April 1, keeping ONJN blacklist intact. Romania’s Gambling Regulator Shares Block List“This year has shown that change is possible. It does not come easily and is not done without resistance. There have been blockages, opposition and attempts to slow down essential projects, both from inside and outside,” Soare said in the report’s accompanying statement, confirming that ongoing investigations would continue.
A key structural change underpinning the enforcement push is the public register of gaming devices, launched by the ONJN in October 2025. The cloud-native system links each registered slot machine and video lottery terminal to a unique QR code, with mandatory geolocation tracking. The regulator has described it as the first of its kind among EU regulators. The legislation also expanded the agency’s authority to issue takedown orders for illegal gambling content under the EU Digital Services Act framework.
The ONJN inherited approximately 30,000 unprocessed self-exclusion requests when Soare took office; the report says the registry now covers approximately 54,000 individuals. A draft emergency ordinance currently with Romania’s Ministry of Finance would unify the self-exclusion procedure across land-based and online operators, introduce a mandatory cool-off period, with penalties of up to 100,000 lei for non-compliance.
The most concrete policy shift came on April 17, when ONJN opened applications for its Conștient și Liber (Aware and Free) program. The €5 million fund marks the first time the Romanian state has directly financed gambling addiction prevention and treatment. Applications close May 11, with implementation running August through December 2026.
Romania separately joined the Balkan Gaming Federation in March, a regional industry body coordinating policy across Western Balkans markets without supplanting national regulators.
The Conștient și Liber program, device register rollout, and unified self-exclusion bill remain in early implementation phases. ONJN’s report acknowledged that several reforms still depend on legislative or budgetary follow-through.
