The statutory basis
Romanian gambling — both land-based and online — is governed by GEO 77/2009 (the Government Emergency Ordinance on the organisation and operation of gambling), as approved with amendments by Law 124/2015 and most recently overhauled by OUG 82/2023. The regulator is the National Gambling Office — Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc, ONJN — established under the Ministry of Finance with full enforcement, licensing, and sanction powers.
The current framework, in force since the 2024 amendments, organises gambling activity into three statutory classes. Class 1 covers operators offering games of chance to end-users (B2C) — sportsbooks, online casinos, poker, bingo, and lotteries. Class 2 covers B2B suppliers integrating into Romanian-licensed operators — game studios, platform providers, payment processors, affiliates, and certification labs. Class 3 covers state-monopoly games operated by Loteria Română. This guide concentrates on the two relevant to private founders: Class 1 and Class 2.
ONJN is among the more interventionist European regulators. The cost of authorisation is high; the cost of operating outside it is higher.
Incorpore handles ONJN files end-to-end under our Bespoke formation tier — from the Romanian SRL (formation pillar) through licensing, banking (covered separately), and ongoing compliance. This piece is the cluster anchor for everything iGaming on the site.
Class 1: who needs it, what it covers
A Class 1 authorisation is required for any company offering games of chance to Romanian residents via online channels. The licence is product-specific — separate authorisations are issued for online sports betting, online casino, online poker, online bingo, online lottery games, and fixed-odds betting on virtual events. A single Class 1 holder may stack multiple product authorisations, each with its own fee.
The headline requirements:
- Minimum share capital: RON 8,500,000 (approximately €1.7M), fully paid in at the moment of authorisation.
- Romanian SRL (or SA — joint-stock company) registered at the Trade Register. Foreign-incorporated entities cannot hold a Romanian Class 1 directly — they must operate through a Romanian subsidiary.
- Fit-and-proper approval of all shareholders holding ≥10% and of all directors. The National Office for the Prevention and Control of Money Laundering (Oficiul Național de Prevenire și Combatere a Spălării Banilor, ONPCSB) clears each beneficial owner.
- Annual authorisation fee plus per-product activation fees — these scale by product type and are revisited in the Class 1 piece.
- Technical certification of the gaming platform and all individual games by an ONJN-accredited testing laboratory — see the game certification piece.
- Romanian-territory data hosting — primary servers must reside in Romania; off-site backups are permitted only within the EU.
- Compliance officer registered with ONJN, resident in Romania, with documented gambling-compliance experience.
A Class 1 authorisation is valid for ten years, with mandatory annual fee payments. The licence is not transferable — change of control triggers re-authorisation.
Class 2: B2B supplier authorisation
A Class 2 authorisation is required for any entity supplying gambling-related services to Romanian-licensed Class 1 operators. The scope under Article 13 of GEO 77/2009 as amended is broad and includes:
- Game content providers — slot studios, table-game developers, live-dealer operators, virtual sports providers.
- Platform/aggregator providers delivering integrated content via API or RGS.
- Payment processors and PSPs routing deposits and withdrawals on behalf of operators.
- Affiliate networks placing player traffic with licensed operators on a revenue-share or CPA basis.
- Certification labs — though these are also separately accredited by ONJN through a dedicated procedure.
- Software and infrastructure providers — RGS, RNG, anti-fraud tools, KYC suppliers, CRM platforms.
The capital requirement is materially lower: RON 1,562,500 (approximately €312,500), fully paid in at authorisation. The application timeline is also faster — 3–6 months for a clean file versus 6–12 months for Class 1. Most foreign suppliers serving the Romanian market via a single Class 2 authorisation operate through a Romanian SRL (guide) rather than a foreign entity, because Romanian Class 1 operators contract-by-default with Romanian-domiciled Class 2 suppliers — it simplifies their own compliance file. Full mechanics in our Class 2 deep-dive.
The tax stack
Romania's gambling-tax structure underwent significant reform with OUG 82/2023 entering force from 1 January 2024. The headline rate operators see in 2026:
- 27% special revenue tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR — stakes minus winnings) for online Class 1 operators. This replaced the prior 16% rate.
- Corporate income tax at the standard 16% on net profit. The microenterprise regime is statutorily unavailable for gambling activities under Article 47 of the Fiscal Code.
- Player-level taxation: winnings are taxed 3% below the RON 66,750 threshold, 20% between RON 66,750 and RON 445,000, and 40% above. Operators withhold and remit at source.
- Annual ONJN authorisation fee plus product activation fees (per game type).
- Responsible-gambling contribution at 2% of revenue, channelled to the dedicated state fund for problem-gambling prevention and treatment.
Combined, a typical online Class 1 operator faces an all-in effective rate of approximately 35–40% of GGR before operating costs. Tax planning options are limited — gambling is one of the most tightly defined regimes in the Romanian Fiscal Code. The full breakdown including international comparisons sits in the Romanian iGaming tax piece.
The application timeline
A clean Class 1 application runs 6–12 months from corporate-setup kickoff to ONJN decision. The sequencing:
Months 1–2 — Form the Romanian SRL or SA, capitalise to RON 8.5M, open the operating bank account, lease commercial premises in Romania, and recruit the Romanian-resident compliance officer.
Months 2–4 — Build the application dossier: corporate documents, beneficial-ownership chart, fit-and-proper declarations and supporting evidence for each shareholder/director, audited financials of group parent (where applicable), technical platform description, AML programme, responsible-gambling policy, business plan, and the 30+ documents ONJN enumerates in its application guidance.
Months 4–6 — Game and platform certification via one of the four accredited testing labs (GLI, BMM Testlabs, eCOGRA, iTech Labs). Lab reports are submitted to ONJN as part of the application.
Months 6–10 — ONJN review. The regulator may request additional information; turnaround on each request typically adds 4–6 weeks. ONPCSB beneficial-ownership clearance runs in parallel.
Months 10–12 — Decision, payment of fees, integration with the SAFE monitoring system (Romania's real-time gambling-activity reporting platform), and go-live. Full mechanics in our Class 1 piece.
Class 2 applications are materially faster — 3–6 months for a clean file — because the certification and player-protection dimensions are narrower.
Substance, technical, and AML obligations
Holding the licence is the start, not the finish. Romanian ONJN authorisations carry an operational compliance burden higher than most European jurisdictions:
- Romanian-territory hosting for primary game servers and player-account databases. Cloud regions outside Romania are not permitted for primary infrastructure; EU off-site backups are allowed.
- SAFE integration — real-time transaction reporting to ONJN's monitoring system. Operators must transmit every bet, win, deposit, and withdrawal as it occurs.
- Player-fund segregation under Article 13 of Law 124/2015 — player balances must sit in a separate Romanian-bank account, distinct from operational funds. See the player-protection piece.
- Central self-exclusion register integration — every player check must consult the national self-exclusion database before account opening or significant transactions.
- AML/KYC under the Romanian transposition of AMLD6 (Directive (EU) 2018/1673) — enhanced due diligence on all players above thresholds, SAR filings via the SOIIA reporting system, transaction-monitoring rules, and dedicated AML training for all customer-facing staff.
- On-site inspections by ONJN — typically once or twice per year for active operators, more frequently after material changes (new product launches, M&A, ownership changes). Inspection failures can trigger immediate suspension under Article 27 of GEO 77/2009.
The full inspection playbook and what triggers regulatory action is detailed in the substance requirements piece.
Banking — the practical bottleneck
The single biggest operational headache for Romanian iGaming operators in 2026 is commercial banking. Most of the six commercial banks shortlisted in our non-resident banking guide — Banca Transilvania, Raiffeisen, ING, OTP, BCR — decline ONJN-licensed files on principle. Libra Internet Bank and a small list of specialist boutiques are the realistic banking partners.
The constraint is regulatory rather than commercial. Romanian retail banks apply enhanced AML diligence to gambling operators that materially exceeds the cost of holding the account at typical bank margins. Specialist gambling-friendly banking infrastructure — including Romanian-domiciled PSPs, e-money institutions, and dedicated correspondent-banking partnerships — has developed since 2022 to fill the gap.
Class 1 operators should plan for 3–6 months of banking-setup work in parallel with the ONJN application, not sequentially. Operators arriving at the licence-approval stage without banking lined up stall for months before they can transact.
When Romania wins (and when it does not)
Romania's iGaming regime sits between the high-prestige, high-cost EU jurisdictions (Malta, UK, Sweden) and the lighter-touch offshore licences (Anjouan, Curaçao). The structural advantages and disadvantages:
Romania wins when
Your business model targets the Romanian domestic market as a primary commercial focus, or you need an EU-recognised gambling licence without the cost and queue of Malta's MGA. Romania's licence is bilaterally recognised across most EU member states under the EU services framework, though not as a pure passporting tool. The all-in cost-to-licence is lower than Malta's but substantially higher than offshore alternatives.
Romania does not win when
Your model targets non-EU markets exclusively — Curaçao or Anjouan are dramatically cheaper for pure offshore operations. Or when time-to-market is critical — a Curaçao licence opens in 2–8 weeks, an Anjouan licence in 6–10 weeks, versus 6–12 months for Romania. Or when banking access is the deciding factor — Malta's banking ecosystem is materially better-developed for gambling operators than Romania's.
The head-to-head comparison across all four jurisdictions sits in our Romania vs Malta vs Anjouan vs Curaçao piece.
Where Incorpore fits
We handle the Romanian side of an iGaming authorisation end-to-end: the SRL or SA formation, the RON 8.5M capital structuring, the ONJN application dossier, ONPCSB beneficial-ownership clearance, bank account opening at a gambling-friendly partner, certification-lab coordination with GLI or BMM, and post-licensing compliance setup including SAFE integration and the dedicated compliance-officer hire. We do not directly operate testing labs, design game content, or provide AML SaaS — for those, we coordinate with the specialist suppliers your business model requires.
A typical Class 1 mandate runs €45,000–€85,000 in service fees over 9–12 months, plus state authorisation fees and certification costs. Class 2 mandates run €18,000–€32,000. Both are scoped against your specific product mix and group structure during the discovery call.
Next steps
If you are weighing a Romanian licence against Malta, Anjouan, or Curaçao — or if you already have a Romanian commercial nexus and need the licence to operate legally — the discovery call is where the comparison gets specific. We will confirm whether Class 1, Class 2, or a hybrid is the right shape, model the capital and timeline, and quote the engagement in writing before any work begins. Book a 30-minute call. The pricing page outlines our three tiers; Bespoke is where iGaming engagements sit.
Frequently asked questions
How long does ONJN authorisation take?
A clean Class 1 application runs 6–12 months from corporate-setup kickoff to ONJN decision; Class 2 runs 3–6 months. The slowest steps are typically the fit-and-proper clearance of beneficial owners by ONPCSB (the AML authority) and the game/platform certification by an accredited testing lab. Operators with prior MGA or UKGC authorisations move faster because their compliance documentation is reusable.
What is the minimum share capital for a Class 1 licence?
RON 8,500,000 (approximately €1.7M), fully paid in at the moment of authorisation. The capital must sit in a Romanian-bank operating account, not in a foreign parent. Class 2 requires RON 1,562,500 (approximately €312,500). Capital cannot be reduced post-authorisation without ONJN approval and is subject to ongoing solvency monitoring.
Does Romania allow crypto casinos?
Not currently. ONJN has not issued guidance permitting crypto-only deposit and withdrawal rails for Class 1 operators. Crypto-adjacent operations (where crypto is converted to fiat at the deposit boundary by a regulated PSP, and the gambling activity itself is fiat-denominated) are technically permitted but face additional AML scrutiny. We expect formal guidance once the Romanian MiCA transposition stabilises in 2026–2027.
Can a foreign company hold a Romanian gambling licence directly?
No. Both Class 1 and Class 2 authorisations are issued exclusively to Romanian-registered legal entities — typically SRLs or SAs (joint-stock companies). Foreign operators must form a Romanian subsidiary or branch (sucursală) before applying. The Romanian entity must satisfy all capital, substance, and beneficial-ownership requirements independently of the foreign parent.
What happens if my licence application is rejected?
ONJN issues a reasoned decision identifying the deficiencies. Most rejections are remediable: missing documentation, unclear beneficial-ownership chains, inadequate AML programme, or technical-platform shortcomings. Re-application typically follows within 2–4 months. Outright rejection for fit-and-proper failures of shareholders is harder to recover from and may require restructuring of ownership before re-application.
Is the 27% tax on gross or net revenue?
On gross gaming revenue (GGR) — total player stakes minus total winnings paid out. Operational costs are not deducted before the 27% applies. Bonuses awarded to players are generally creditable against GGR but the treatment varies by bonus type and ONJN has issued clarifying guidance under OUG 82/2023. Corporate income tax (16% on net profit) applies separately and is calculated after operational deductions.
Talk to us
A Romanian iGaming authorisation is a 9–12 month, multi-disciplinary engagement. The discovery call is where we confirm whether Class 1, Class 2, or a hybrid structure fits your operation, model the RON 8.5M / €312,500 capital plan, identify a realistic banking partner, and quote the full engagement in writing. Book a 30-minute call — the Bespoke tier covers iGaming work, and we typically respond within one business day.
Related guides
- ONJN Class 1 (B2C) authorisation in detail — capital, dossier, fees, timeline
- ONJN Class 2 (B2B) supplier authorisation — game studios, platforms, payments, affiliates
- Romania's iGaming tax stack: the 27% revenue tax — OUG 82/2023 changes, player tax, effective rate
- Substance and inspection regime for ONJN licensees — what inspectors actually check
- Romania vs Malta, Anjouan, Curaçao for iGaming — the four-way jurisdiction comparison
- Game certification: RNG testing and accredited labs — GLI, BMM, eCOGRA, iTech Labs
- AML, player segregation, responsible gambling — operational compliance under AMLD6
- Romanian SRL formation: the complete 2026 guide — the corporate vehicle for the licence