No, your Malta licence doesn’t cover Romania. Neither does Curacao, or Gibraltar, or anything else you might be holding. The ONJN Romania Gaming Regulator controls access to the Romanian market directly, and the only route in is a direct ONJN authorisation. This comes up every time an operator looks at Romania for the first time. The answer never changes.
What follows covers how the regulator operates, what it actually requires, and the specific parts of the process that tend to cause the most trouble.
ONJN Romania Gaming Regulator: From Online Casino to Sports Betting
ONJN stands for Oficiul National pentru Jocuri de Noroc. Set up under Government Emergency Ordinance 77/2009, reorganised under Law 124/2015 when Romania formalised the online gambling licensing framework. It sits under the Ministry of Public Finance but operates independently with its own enforcement mandate.
The regulator’s scope covers the full market: online casino and poker, sports betting, remote bingo and lotto, land-based casinos, slot halls, horse racing, and the national lottery. Romania has around 19 million people, a real sports betting market, and a growing casino vertical, and the 2015 framework opened it up. For online-only operators, the Class I authorisation is what matters.
What ONJN doesn’t do is recognise foreign licensing frameworks. No mutual recognition arrangement with Malta, no equivalence route, no workaround. Romanian players need a Romanian authorisation.
ONJN Romania Gaming Regulator: Licence Categories
Each product type needs its own authorisation. A casino licence doesn’t extend to sports betting, poker sits in its own category, bingo is separate. If you’re planning multiple verticals, that means multiple approval processes, each reviewed independently by ONJN. The main online categories are casino (RNG and live dealer), sports betting including in-play, poker, bingo and keno, and remote lottery products.
B2B suppliers are part of this framework too, and this is the part of the application that most operators discover too late. Platform providers, game studios, and payment processors that directly affect game integrity or player funds all potentially need their own ONJN authorisation. GLI certification doesn’t transfer, an MGA B2B status doesn’t substitute. Check every supplier before you start the main operator application, because discovering a gap after submission costs weeks.
Current requirements are covered on the Romania gaming licence jurisdiction page.
Corporate Structure and Key Persons
Local presence is required. In practice, this means either a Romanian-registered entity or a branch of a foreign company with a registered representative in Romania. Therefore, remote structures do not qualify.
Minimum paid-in share capital sits at RON 5,000,000, roughly EUR 1 million depending on rates at the time of application. ONJN verifies this is genuinely paid-in at application, not committed or promised. Source of funds documentation covering the capital’s origin is mandatory.
Four key persons need individual ONJN approval before the application can advance: Legal Representative or Director, Compliance Officer, AML Responsible Person, and Technical Responsible. All four go through fit-and-proper checks covering criminal records, professional background, and source of wealth. Candidates without regulated-industry experience take longer, and in our experience, operators who treat key person vetting as an administrative step at the end of preparation are the ones who end up waiting. ONJN reviews these on its own timeline, not yours, and there’s no way to speed it up by having everything else ready.
The gaming licence acquisition service manages the application from corporate setup through to approval.
The Technical Audit Is Where Applications Slow Down
Not the legal review. Not the documentation. The technical audit is where most applications hit problems.
The ONJN Romania Gaming Regulator requires certified RNG systems for all game categories. However, certification must come from an ONJN-recognised laboratory, not just any accredited lab. In addition, Romanian player data and transaction records must sit on servers in Romania or the EEA, with ONJN-compliant access protocols in place. Player funds also require full segregation from operating accounts, while complete transaction traceability must remain available on demand.
The live reporting requirement is the piece operators consistently don’t account for properly. ONJN maintains a direct connection to operator systems and receives real-time data on player activity, wagers, and game outcomes throughout the entire licence term. Not quarterly, not on request: continuously. Platforms built for jurisdictions that run periodic audits often need significant rework to support this, and the earlier you know about that gap the better. Finding it during the audit, which we’ve seen happen, is the worst possible time.
Game certification applies to every title offered in Romania. Titles certified elsewhere may still require specific Romanian steps. Worth confirming with your testing lab before assuming existing certifications carry over, because assuming wrong adds time.
AML and Responsible Gambling
Romania implemented the EU Fifth AML Directive through Law 129/2019. As a result, operators fall within the AML framework from day one.
KYC before any deposit or wager. Enhanced due diligence for PEPs, high-value players, and suspicious transaction patterns. Ongoing PEP and sanctions screening, not just at onboarding. Suspicious activity reports go to ONPCSB, Romania’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
Responsible gambling minimums are deposit limits, session controls, cooling-off periods, and self-exclusion. Romania runs a national exclusion registry; new accounts get checked against it before activation. Players who request exclusion can’t undo it until the period ends. The full framework needs to be documented and operational before ONJN signs off on the licence. Not in progress: done.
27% on GGR
That’s the online gambling tax rate. 27% on gross gaming revenue, which is total wagers minus player winnings before any other deductions. And on top of that, a 1% player winnings tax withheld by the operator and remitted to ANAF on net session winnings above the threshold. The billing system needs to handle this before launch.
Operators modelling Romania alongside Bulgaria often want to compare the two. They don’t compare cleanly: Bulgaria taxes on turnover, Romania on GGR, and the financial impact is completely different depending on your product margins. The Bulgaria Gaming Licence 2026: Complete Guide for Operators covers the Bulgarian side in detail. Annual authorisation fees and supervision levies for Romania are in the Romania gaming licence 2026 complete operator guide.
ONJN Romania Gaming Regulator: How Enforcement Works
Unlicensed sites get blocked. ONJN coordinates with ANCOM, Romania’s telecom regulator, for ISP-level blocking, and separately instructs Romanian banks and payment processors on payment restrictions. The licensed operator list is at www.onjn.gov.ro. There’s a public blacklist for unauthorised operators too. Both are updated regularly.
Sanctions for operating without authorisation include administrative fines, criminal exposure for management personnel, and blacklist placement. Operators who ran unlicensed in Romania before applying face additional scrutiny in their fit-and-proper review. Prior regulatory history gets looked at.
After approval, enforcement doesn’t stop. Compliance failures lead to warnings, fines, or suspension. ONJN has used all three.
How Romania Fits Into a Wider Licence Structure
Most operators entering Romania pair the ONJN authorisation with a Malta MGA licence, MGA covering other EU markets and international players while ONJN covers Romanian residents. The two operate independently, their obligations don’t overlap for the same player base, and geo-segmentation at platform level keeps the pools separate. The European Gaming and Betting Association maps Romania among the EU markets that have moved to multi-licensing frameworks.
Romania isn’t a lightweight addition to an existing stack, though. The live monitoring requirements, the AML framework, the technical certification process, the tax structure: all of it requires genuine operational investment. Model it on its own terms.
The licensing compliance service handles ongoing ONJN reporting obligations, key function management, and renewal filings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my existing licence cover Romanian players?
No. ONJN does not recognise Malta, Curacao, Gibraltar, or any other foreign licensing framework. Therefore, operators need direct ONJN authorisation before targeting Romanian players. Without it, they risk ISP blocking, payment restrictions, and criminal exposure for management.
How long does the ONJN authorisation process take?
ONJN’s review period from a complete submission runs three to four months. But reaching that point takes preparation time on top: corporate setup, key person vetting, policy documentation, technical audit readiness. Realistically, six to nine months from starting to going live. Most applications land closer to nine than six, honestly.
What share capital does ONJN require?
ONJN requires RON 5,000,000 in paid-in share capital at the time of application. In addition, the applicant must provide documented proof of the source of funds.
Does the ONJN Romania Gaming Regulator require real-time reporting?
Yes. ONJN connects to your systems and receives continuous live data throughout the licence period. This is a pre-approval requirement confirmed during the technical audit. Platforms that only support periodic reporting will need changes before the audit passes.
Can I run an ONJN licence alongside Malta MGA?
Yes. The two licences operate independently. In practice, ONJN covers Romanian players, while MGA covers everyone else. Therefore, you need geo-segmentation to route players correctly.
What are the key persons ONJN requires, and does the review take long?
ONJN requires four roles: Legal Representative or Director, Compliance Officer, AML Responsible Person, and Technical Responsible. In addition, all four must pass fit-and-proper checks. The review timeline depends on their backgrounds, and, as a result, people with no regulated-industry history usually take longer to clear. There is no way to rush the process from the outside.
What is the tax rate for online gambling in Romania?
The tax rate is 27% on GGR. In addition, the operator withholds and remits a 1% player winnings tax. Annual licence fees and supervision fees are separate, so operators need to model those costs as well.
Does ONJN require a Romanian office?
Yes. However, the applicant must have a Romanian-registered entity or, alternatively, a registered branch with a local representative. Without local presence, ONJN will not grant authorisation.