Romania's Land-Based Slot Decline Puts Online Casino Market in Focus
Slot halls are closing across parts of Romania as local councils use new powers to keep gambling venues out of their towns. In Iași County, every one of the 98 local councils has voted to close slot venues, and national figures show that only 2,337 slot-machine positions were authorised between February and May 2026, compared with 18,981 in the same period of 2025.
From national rules to local votes
The shift began in April 2024, when Romania banned slot halls in towns with fewer than 15,000 residents and introduced stricter zoning and advertising rules.
In February 2026, the government changed who makes the decision. Emergency Ordinance 7/2026 moved the authorisation of land-based gambling halls from the national regulator, ONJN, to local councils. An operator that wants to run a gambling hall now needs an ONJN licence and a separate local authorisation, which has to be obtained again every year. Each council can therefore decide, year by year, whether slot venues operate within its borders.
Iași, Romania's second most populous county, was the first to answer that question with a full ban. Its councils did not all move at the same speed. Some ordered venues to close immediately, while others chose to wait for existing licences to run out. The last slot machine licences in the county expire in February 2027.
Other councils have reached different conclusions. Of those that had decided by mid-2026, 35 banned gambling halls and 55 permitted them. More than 200 municipalities, including Buzău, Focșani and Constanța, have been cited as considering bans. In the capital, Bucharest's District 3 council has requested a ban, and a decision is still pending.
Fewer machines, lower fees
The authorisation data shows how far the land-based sector has contracted. Romania had 45,659 authorised gaming devices in 2025, a full-year total. Over the four months from February to May 2026, beginning in the month the ordinance was adopted, operators secured authorisation for 2,337 slot-machine positions, a drop of 16,644 from the 18,981 authorised over the same months a year earlier.
The money paid by operators fell with the numbers. Authorisation fees totalled RON 485 million (€92.5 million) between February and May 2025. For the same period of 2026, the total was RON 300 million, RON 185 million lower.
The online side of the market
While councils debate the future of slot halls, the online market operates under a separate set of figures.
Romanians spent RON 12.5 billion, about €2.5 billion, on online gambling in 2023, according to National Bank of Romania card-transaction data. That figure predates the 2026 ordinance by three years, so it is best read as evidence of the scale online gambling had already reached rather than as proof that land-based closures are directly pushing players online.
Online casino games account for roughly 36% of the Romanian market, while current industry data also points to a strong preference for classic-style slots that resemble familiar land-based machines.
Licensed online slot play in the country runs through operators holding ONJN licences, among them NetBet Romania, whose NetBet slots in Romania section forms part of that regulated offering. Live casino formats, meanwhile, are also gaining share.
For land-based venues, the ONJN licence is now only the first step. It must be followed each year by a local authorisation that a council can grant or refuse, a requirement set out in Emergency Ordinance 7/2026.
What remains undecided
Several decisions on land-based gambling halls are still open across Romania. Bucharest's District 3 is waiting for an answer on its ban request, and the more than 200 municipalities cited as considering bans have yet to settle the question.
In Iași County, the remaining slot machine licences run until February 2027, after which no slot machine licences will remain in force there.
What is clear already is that Romania's land-based slot market is becoming more fragmented and more dependent on local decisions. The online casino sector remains separate from that process, but the shrinking physical footprint puts greater attention on how Romanian players already use digital gambling platforms and which game formats continue to attract them.
