100 Million in Taxes from Online Gambling Expected in Romania

Romanian Insider has reported that this country expects to get up to EUR 100 million in 2015 from the online gambling operators. The government has decided to create more operator-friendly environment for online gambling in the state and it has entirely regulated online gambling sector.

When it comes to online gambling in Romania the situation was quite complicated as online gambling wasn’t entirely regulated. It was technically legal since 2010 when legislation was passed, allowing for operators to offer their services after obtaining a government license. Despite of this legislation being passed, with no regulatory body, operators were unable to apply for the license.

Romania has now finally set up a legal framework which allows gambling operators to obtain a gambling license in the country. This is the first time that state has started to accumulate taxes from online gambling due to these mentioned changes. As it was reported, all gambling operators that have been offering their services in the state illegally now have 90 days to pay taxes they owe to the state.

If operators don’t pay the taxes in the period of 90 days they will face prosecution. Winmasters.com, one of the first sites in Romania that got the approval to operate in the state, has paid EUR 500,000 in taxes and guarantees. When it comes to other gambling operators, they have also agreed to pay the taxes in order to get the operating license.

Romania has estimated that starting 2016, the state will receive EUR 30m annually from taxes paid by gambling operators.

The new gambling regulation in Romania also allows companies from the European Union to offer their services to Romanians. The government has decided to allow the EU based companies to offer their services because they want to collect more tax and help to secure a fund to deal with the underage gambling and gambling addiction.

The gambling culture in Romania has grown quickly and even though regulation is fairly new, the industry is strong and it is certainly going in the right direction.

The new legislation proposes three classes of the license for online gambling operators. Class 1 license is granted to operators organizing remote games of chance while having a direct contract with players.

The Class 2 license is for gambling operators that are involved in traditional or remote gambling, while Class 3 license applies for the operators of lottery games.