.svg)
Romanian gamblers have launched legal action against online operators after being misled by social media videos and other false reports that they could receive compensation for alleged self-exclusion failings.
In response to growing public concern, the Romanian Ombudsman (RO), a government organisation responsible for investigating and addressing complaints made by citizens against other government institutions, announced it had launched an investigation into the National Gambling Office of Romania (ONJN) on March 21.
Issues around self-exclusion created a huge social media movement among gamblers at the beginning of this year, according to Andrei Cosma, a partner at Romania-based law firm Baciu Partners.
“The main issues are a poorly drafted law (that applies only to the land-based sector in the current version) and an inconsistent approach of the authorities,” Cosma told Vixio GamblingCompliance.
In 2023, a legal change required the creation of a central database managed by the regulator for online and land-based self-excluded players to ban them from all gambling venues, not all online operators.
However, that central database has still not been created.
As a result, some land-based venues cannot properly apply the rules included in the 2023 law.
To make matters worse, misinformation on social media led to the formation of a pressure group pushing for legal action for online self-excluded players who were allowed to gamble on other websites and in land-based venues after self-excluding from an individual site.
Some smaller online operators folded under the public pressure and paid out some of the players, further fuelling their belief that they were entitled to compensation.
However, most online operators have not paid out.
“Gamblers have been targeted by some consultants from the Romanian market who have tried to convince them that the central database is already applicable to online. But this is not what the law says. Based on viral TikToks and so on, lots of players got the idea that if they self-excluded at any time with an online operator, they can claim back all the money they lost with all operators,” Cosma said.
A public request for action was made from the Association for the Protection of Online Gamblers in Romania (APJOR) on March 1, which was also sent to the ONJN, demanding compliance with the law on self-exclusion.
APJOR claimed operators are allowing the creation of multiple accounts on their different platforms, self-exclusions are deleted or modified despite being obligated to retain them, ONJN does not perform adequate checks, and no unified and mandatory system allows ONJN to verify self-exclusions and the single account in real time.
On March 13, 2025, the National Gambling Office of Romania (ONJN) clarified rules around online gambling self-exclusion.
It explained that gambling operators with multiple websites must ensure self-exclusion applies across all the gambling accounts held by a player, although their self-exclusion request does not explicitly address each individual gambling account.
It seems, based on this ONJN press release, that the remediation measures apply only for the future.
Online gambling operators were required to amend their policy on preventing gambling addiction and update their terms and conditions accordingly.
Claims made by the group were preceded by a damning report by the Court of Auditors published on February 21, which said the ONJN “has never monitored or controlled the activity of remote gambling organisers and has not fulfilled its legal duties”.
Following the findings, the Court of Auditors issued recommendations, requesting updated authorisation procedures and the urgent initiation of controls on online gaming operators.
In response, the ONJN put out a statement, saying it “continues to carry out its activity in accordance with the legislation in force and implements the necessary measures for the smooth conduct of the regulatory and monitoring processes in the field of gambling”.
It added that it is implementing the measures in the plan associated with the report.
Separately, on March 4, 2025, a draft law amending the Gambling Act was submitted to the Romanian parliament that would require a self-exclusion button at the top of the regulator's website and a display in real time of the number of requests for self-exclusion received and processed.
Self-excluded players would be entitled to a refund for the amounts played during their self-exclusion period, within 48 hours after submitting a request for this purpose.
Failure to comply would result in the suspension of the gambling licence for a period of six months and the imposition of a fine amounting to RON100,000 (€20,095).
