Romanian iGaming Blacklist Grows as 20 More Sites are Added

The National Gambling Authority in Romania, Surveillance has added 20 more iGaming websites to their blacklist. Megaslot, Fivecasino.net, 22-bet.net, Megapari.com and others have all been blacklisted. This comes after the government blocked 57 sites in May for non-compliance to their stringent regulations.

Romania has a very liberal approach to gambling but requires that all operators have a license. In fact, a Romanian Gambling License is one of the most popular choices internationally when it comes to online casinos, as long as the casinos offer the necessary support to protect at-risk players.

Ever since they embraced online gambling in 2016, after admitting there was no way to stop it, and rather deciding to capture the revenue that it can generate, the Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc (ONJN) has proven themselves to be extremely diligent when it comes to monitoring the online gaming scene.

Alert Romanian Requirements

Operators are expected to carefully monitor player activity and step in to implement any support necessary when at risk behavior comes to light:

Minimum conditions to be satisfied by the game platform are:

✓ real-time interactions with the monitoring and reporting system and with the players;

✓ management of games’ formulas and game sessions;

✓ getting the right to participate in games and awarding prizes offered to players;

✓ offering awards and payments;

✓ assistance and information offered to the players;

✓ providing free learning classes of the games.

The government of the country will gladly issue you with a gambling license, but your license will be revoked if you’re caught doing the following:

the organiser of land-based gambling activities allows individuals to participate in games of chance without having valid identity documents in their possession;
the gambling organiser, without distinction between land-based and online activities, does not pay the participants the winnings obtained from gambling in three business days, provided that the conditions imposed on the participant in relation to the proof of winnings are fulfilled; or
the gambling organiser, without distinction between land-based and online activities, fails to notify the National Gambling Office, within a certain deadline, about any modifications that have occurred to the data on the basis of which the license and the authorisation were granted.

While there is no confirmation as to which rules were broken, it is clear that Romania is doing everything in its power to ensure that unlicensed and unregulated sites don’t sneak under the radar.

More Details The Blacklist

There are now 1,313 sites on the blacklist, but this number is constantly in flux. Operators are welcome to challenge their listing as long as they submit a complaint to the ONJN within 30 days of getting listed. While the complaint is received by the gambling authority, it is subsequently heard by the Bucharest Court of Appeal for the final ruling.

Romanians who try to use these sites will see the message, “Your access to this site has been restricted by the National Gambling Office” and Internet Service Providers in Romania are required to block access and post the message within 15 days of being advised by the ONJN. Actioning the notification is very easy though as the gambling authority even provides access to a script that will update the provider’s list of prohibited sites automatically.

Given the easy access to user-friendly nature of VPN blockers, it is unclear as to whether this IP blocking will do much to stop these sites however, it is great to see a government with their finger on the pulse of what is happening online.