“How much is the life of the 27-year-old child whom I saw dead?”

On Tuesday evening, Ilie Bolojan announced that the Government adopted two emergency ordinances, one of which concerns the reform of the public administration. At noon on Wednesday, the Administration Reform Ordinance was sent to the Official Gazette for publication.

Thus, together with this, local authorities will have the right to decide how and if gambling will continue to operate, thus, from now on, there will be more power at the local level. After Bolojan's announcement, there is also the first city in Romania to say “no” to gambling: Slatina, the municipality in Olt county.

Mario De Mezzo, the mayor of Slatina, wants to ban gambling in the city

Mario De Mezzo, the mayor of Slatina, announced that he intends to ban gambling in the city of Olt. He will submit a decision of the Local Council for the prohibition of gambling activities

Slatina will be the first city free of lice. When the Ordinance adopted last night will be published in the Official Gazette in the first meeting of the Local Council, I will propose the removal from the municipality of Slatina of all the gambling halls and all the gambling dens.

No pub will operate in the municipality of Slatina. None. Not! Out of Slatina, all the bastards who made a whole country miserable. My political opponents will say: De Mezzo, but you lose taxes and fees. I ask these political opponents: how much is a life worth?

How much is the life of the 27-year-old child whom I saw dead, in the Olt river, during my mandate as prefect and who committed suicide after losing at the lottery. What is the cost of the lives of children, husbands, fathers, lives that are destroyed by the fools. For me these lives are priceless. The health of the city is more important to me and the panhandlers will be permanently eliminated from Slatina

– Mario De Mezzo, mayor of Slatina, on Facebook

“In the first meeting of the Slatina Local Council, I will initiate a draft decision regarding the banning of gambling activities within the municipality”

“According to the new provisions, carrying out the activity in physical locations is conditioned by obtaining an operating authorization issued by the competent local public administration authority. At the same time, a new article is introduced which explicitly establishes that the Local Council decides, by decision, whether or not gambling activities can be carried out on the territory of the administrative-territorial unit.

In this context, immediately after the publication of the normative act in the Official Gazette, in the first meeting of the Slatina Local Council I will initiate a draft decision by the mayor Mario De Mezzo, regarding the prohibition of gambling activities within the municipality.

For the existing and authorized operators, the new legal framework gives the local authority the right to decide whether or not to issue operating authorizations within the municipality, which allows the gradual elimination of these activities from the city, under the law. The position of the local administration remains firm: the public interest, the health of the community and the protection of families have priority,” said the mayor of Slatina, quoted by agerpres.ro.

And Miercurea Ciuc would like to take the same step

Slatina is not the only city that wants to ban peddlers. And the local authorities from Miercurea Ciuc are analyzing the possibility of limiting or even banning gambling halls.

“The law is very good. I was waiting for it. (…) We will have a public debate”, said Korodi Attila, the mayor of Miercurea Ciuc.

What does the new Ordinance say?

Emergency Government Ordinance no. 77/2009 regarding the organization and exploitation of games of chance, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 439 of June 26, 2009, with subsequent amendments and supplements, is amended and supplemented as follows:

(…)

After article 18, a new article is introduced, art. 181, with the following content:

“Art. 181. (1) The local council decides, by decision, whether or not gambling activities can be carried out on the territory of the territorial administrative unit it represents.
(2) If the local council decides that gambling activities are to be carried out on the territory of the administrative-territorial unit it represents, they are conditional upon obtaining, in advance, the annual operating authorization

(3) In order to obtain the operating authorization provided for in para. (2) the economic operator submits copies of the gambling organization license and documents regarding the proposed space for the organization of the activity. The operating authorization provided for in para. (2) it is granted or rejected by a decision of the local council, based on the criteria established by its own regulation, in compliance with local development priorities, the rules for the protection of order and public health and safety.

(4) The local public administration authority establishes, by decision of the local council: a) the areas where gambling activities can be carried out; b) the amount of the local tax due for obtaining the operating authorization, calculated according to the area, expressed in square meters, of the space where the activity is carried out.

(5) The decision of the local council provided for in para. (4) it is made known to the public by posting it on the website of the local public administration authority and by other means of advertising provided by law.

(6) The annual local tax provided for in para. (4) lit. b) is paid within 30 days of issuing the operating authorization.