Romania: €500,000 annual fee per online casino

In Romania, a country in south-eastern Europe, the government is currently planning a significant increase in fees for online casinos. About two weeks ago, the Romanian Ministry of Finance presented a new catalogue of fees, which is quite a challenge. Will it still be economically viable for operators to operate successfully in the market, given the sharp rise in fees?

Romania is currently in the process of reforming its gambling system. While Germany has introduced a number of player protection measures, such as a five-second minimum play time and a ban on autospins, Romania appears to be focusing on high fees for gambling operators. The new fee regulation was recently proposed by the government and is currently up for a vote. Online casino operators in particular will face high fees.

500,000 Euro fees per online casino in Romania

According to the magazine "iGaming Business", the Romanian Ministry of Finance is planning to completely change the fee structure for gambling services in the country. Specifically, each gambling operator will have to pay annual fees depending on the gambling services offered. For example, the planned fees will amount to €500,000 per year per online casino. This means that an online gambling operator will have to spend on average more than €41,500 per month to be allowed to legally offer its services in Romania - per day, the fees will amount to almost €1,400 for the operator.

For lotteries, the annual fee will be €200,000, and for land-based poker or bingo, €5,000 per club or gaming establishment. In addition, land-based casinos will pay €4,000 per gaming table per year and slot machine operators will pay €100 per slot machine.

The fees will be distributed as follows:

• 70% to the Romanian state budget
• 30% to responsible gaming (e.g. addiction services, initiatives).

At first glance, it is clear that the fees for online gambling are significantly higher than those for land-based gambling. Consequently, the Romanian government obviously wants to strengthen the land-based business.

It is questionable how many gambling companies will even apply for a gambling licence in Romania, given that they will have to pay half a million euros a year in fees.

The high government fees are not the only hurdle that gambling operators will have to overcome in the future. Licensees will also have to prove to the Romanian authorities that they are in a good enough financial position to pay the fees in the future. In order to increase state revenues, the Greek government had already decided to raise the betting limit from €2 to €20 in the summer of 2022.

Do high fees in Romania jeopardise canalisation?

We have already looked at the question of whether too strict gambling regulations and too high fees or taxes can endanger channelling. For example, an article in March 2021 discussed whether the decline in channelling in Sweden is a warning signal for Germany.

It is conceivable that annual fees of half a million euros per online casino will mean that there will be no attractive legal offering in Romania. Faced with exorbitant fees, licensed operators would ultimately be forced to adjust their payout rates downwards - and players would ultimately have no desire to play with poor odds. It will be interesting to see how the Romanian gambling market develops!

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/illustrations/rumänien-flagge-europa-länder-rot-1460575/