Last year, the state had 45 million euros from companies to prevent gambling addiction, money of which it spent 1,600 euros on a workshop with a few guests
Given that gambling addiction has the highest suicide rate among all addictions, the number of young Romanians tempted by gambling is also increasing, and hundreds and hundreds of illegal sites can be accessed online from Romania, the state does almost nothing to prevent or improve gambling addiction, reveals GOLAZO.roHotNews' sports website.
- In more and more countries of the world, addiction worries governments and societies, which act. In the US, there are states where from 2023 to 2024 the number of calls for help against addiction on specially founded lines almost doubled, after online betting applications became more and more used, a frequency that also increased in Romania.
- Gambling addiction also has the highest suicide rate of all addictions, according to the American Psychiatric Association. In our country, it has come to the point that most online card transactions are gambling payments, according to the BNR. These are the concrete conditions in which the Romanian state collects tens of millions of euros for an anti-addiction program, called “Responsible Gaming”, and does nothing for people with addiction.
A workshop organized on August 2, 2024 alongside the National Center for Mental Health and the Fight Against Drugs and dedicated to social workers, was the only investment of ONJN last year, financed from the funds allocated for “Responsible Gambling”, according to public data monitored by GOLAZO.ro, within the “Octopus of Illegal Gambling” series of investigations.
The workshop, which cost 8,064 lei, equivalent to 1,600 euros, aimed to educate social workers for the recognition, prevention and management of gambling addiction.
The underutilization of funds from “Responsible Gaming” is not an exception, but the established rule of the last 12 years, according to the budgets consulted by the publication and testimonies from inside the organization and the industry.
For 12 years there has been a special department in ONJN for the promotion of responsible gaming. During this period of more than a decade, tens of millions of euros were collected, but the “Responsible Gaming” program remained only a concept, not supported by actions financed by the authorities, according to public budgets.
In 2024, the year to which the article published on Wednesday by GOLAZO.ro refers, the office was headed by Gheorghe Gabriel Gheorghe, a former ALDE politician who also held positions in the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the Financial Guard, Transelectrica, Romgaz and ANRE.
How ONJN collected contributions of 42.2 million euros in 2024, plus reserves of 2.4 million
ONJN is the National Gaming Authority, the forum that not only oversees the market, but is required by law to protect players and run anti-addiction programs.
The office is the same institution that an investigation by Snoop found, along with gambling houses, violated legislation that allows addicts to self-exclude.
10 employees should have the “Responsible Gaming” department within ONJN, according to the organization chart. Last year only 3 positions were filled. Recently, a few more have been put up for competition.
In 2024, the state collected 865 million euros from gambling taxes to the state budget.
From this money, ONJN received in 2024 contributions worth 210,143,860 lei. That is 42.2 million euros. From previous years, ONJN still had 11,717,830 lei. That means another 2.4 million euros.
So, in the accounts of the “Responsible Gambling” program, the state had 44.6 million euros available during the past year.
What was the money for “Responsible gaming”
Of that money, how much of that total was spent on “Responsible Gaming”?
- 424,980 lei (85,000 euros) went to the salaries of the 3 employees of the special department of ONJN
- And only 8,064 lei, i.e. 1,620 euros, were spent on specific “responsible gaming” activities
- So, 1,620 euros out of a total of 44.6 million euros.
How much do legally operating companies pay?
Where does the money for Responsible Gaming come from? A bookmaker pays a minimum of 500,000 euros annually, while slot holders (the “bucks”) have a fee of 1,000 euros per machine.
We are only talking about the fees related to the “Responsible Gambling” program, which represents approximately 5% of the total of 826 million euros collected by the state, the rest being other general taxes (authorizations, income taxes, profit taxes, etc.).
ONJN presidents for the past 12 years
- 2013 – 2017: Odeta Nestor – former economic director of the Romanian Lottery
- 2017 – 2018: Dan Iliovici – former executive director of the Rombet association
- 2018 – 2020: Marius Ștefănescu – former head of the IT and Monitoring Directorate of ONJN
- 2018 – 2021: Cătălin Constantin Voinea Mic – lawyer
- 2022 – 2023: Mihai Silviu Pocora – former vice-president of ONJN
- 2023 – 2025: Gheorghe Gabriel Gheorghe – former vice-president of ONJN
- 2025 – present: Vlad Cristian Soare – lawyer, former director general of the Romanian Lottery, former president of FEDBET (Federation of Gambling Organizers)
The “Octopus of illegal betting” investigation on GOLAZO.ro.
