Romania’s gambling regulator ONJN blacklists around 800 domains of illegal operators

Romania’s gambling regulator, the National Office for Gambling (ONJN), has added around 800 websites linked to unlicensed iGaming operators to its blacklist. The decision was approved by the Supervisory Committee and marks the largest single addition to the blacklist since the regulator was established in 2013.

For comparison, around 1,500 websites had been blacklisted between ONJN’s creation and April 2025. The latest action therefore represents a significant step up in the regulator’s efforts to tackle illegal gambling activity in Romania.

New Tool Helps Find Casino Clones

The latest wave of blocking was made possible by a tool developed by ONJN to identify cloned websites. The system can detect websites using the same underlying structure even when they operate under different domain names.

This is particularly important as unlicensed operators increasingly use mirror sites, alternative URLs, subdomains and other methods to remain accessible after previous domains have been blocked.

ONJN Chairman Vlad-Cristian Soare told Gândul that the regulator has also filed more than 40 criminal complaints against unlicensed operators in recent months. The companies named include NV Casino, Verde Casino and Vulkan Casino.

ONJN Plans Further Action

The regulator is also stepping up measures against illegal gambling advertising. ONJN has issued more than 200 removal orders, while major services such as Google, Meta and TikTok are required to respond to notices concerning illegal content.

The regulator says it is preparing further legislative and technical measures to make it easier to remove unlicensed operators and detect suspicious activity. New IT systems are expected to strengthen monitoring, while an additional system for analysing transaction data is planned to help identify illegal websites and support future blacklist actions.

These measures show that Romania is taking a more systematic approach to limiting access to unlicensed gambling websites and reducing their visibility online.

All this is happening amid ongoing discussions in Romania about broader changes to gambling legislation. For example, as of August 1, Romania increased taxes on gambling winnings. The current crackdown on unlicensed websites may be part of the same strategy, aimed at preventing players from hiding their income when they win.