The Chamber of Deputies adopted in a plenary meeting on Tuesday the draft law on gambling with 243 votes „in favour,” four abstentions, while two deputies did not vote.

According to the bill, the commercial premises in which the operator operates games of chance, if it has slotmachines, must be located in an administrative-territorial unit with a population of more than 15,000 inhabitants. Proof of the number of inhabitants shall be provided by means of a certificate issued by the town hall in whose territorial district the proposed premises are located.

„It is forbidden to provide, directly or indirectly, gambling related activities to entities that do not hold a class I license issued by the National Office for Gambling (ONJN) and that allow access to gambling by participants accessing the gaming platform from Romania and/or Romanian citizens who are not tax residents in another country. The technical measures necessary to prevent and combat the access of participants to gambling in violation of the provisions of this paragraph will be established by order of the president of the ONJN, within 90 days from the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance. Until the adoption of the order of the president of the ONJN provided for in this paragraph, economic operators holding a class II license issued by the ONJN are obliged to implement any available technical measures to prevent and combat access of participants to gambling in violation of the provisions of this paragraph,” the draft also mentions.

It also establishes the obligation for the ONJN to create and keep up to date a public register, accessible online and updated at least once every 24 hours, which will include operators licensed/authorised to carry out gambling activities.

The draft had been adopted by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body in this case.

AGERPRES