Romania's gambling trade body FEDBET has asked the government to protect land-based venues caught in regulatory limbo after Emergency Government Ordinance 7/2026 transferred casino oversight from national regulator ONJN to local authorities in February.
The decentralisation created chaos. Individual slot machine licences dropped from 43,306 in March to 15,462 by 1 November, according to official ONJN data. FEDBET, which represents 90% of the Romanian gambling market, says the decline is directly tied to local authorities failing to adopt the required decisions, not to commercial reasons.
The drop has affected around 8,500 jobs. Regulatory uncertainty prompted several counties to impose bans: in July, Iași became the first to prohibit land-based venues with slot machines, followed by Bacău, Sibiu, Brăila and the cities of Slatina and Zalău.
Multinational operator Super Technologies said it will keep staff employed and repurpose Superbet venues affected by the bans. Without a centralised fix to the licensing problem, the sector will keep shrinking.
