Romania Adds Hundreds of Gambling Sites to ONJN Blacklist

Two ONJN meetings at the end of July produced an unusually large update to Romania’s gambling blacklist. Around 800 unlicensed sites were added in one round.

For much of its history, the Romanian blacklist grew comparatively slowly. About 1,500 sites were added between the creation of ONJN in 2013 and April 2025.

The figures since then look very different. ONJN President Vlad-Cristian Soare says roughly 1,180 sites have been listed since he took office on April 25, 2025. Most strikingly, around 800 came from decisions made at Supervisory Committee meetings on July 30 and 31 this year.

One Casino Can Generate Several Entries

Part of that jump comes down to how offshore sites operate. A casino does not need to disappear when one domain is blocked. Another address can carry the same site, and several versions may remain online at once.

ONJN has developed software that searches for those copies. It looks for platforms built around the same root but spread across different domains. The regulator can therefore add clusters of related addresses instead of finding them one by one.

The 800 figure should be read with that in mind. It is a domain count, not a count of 800 separate operators.

Some Cases Have Gone to Prosecutors

Blocking a domain is not always where ONJN stops. Soare said more than 40 criminal complaints have been filed in recent months over unlicensed gambling activity. NV Casino, Verde Casino and Vulkan Casino were among the operators he mentioned.

The regulator has been active on another front as well: promotion. It says more than 200 orders have been sent to online platforms asking for illegal gambling content to be taken down. Google, Meta and TikTok were among those contacted, with Soare putting the response rate at about 98%.

If a platform ignores such an order, the case can move further under Romania’s Digital Services Act rules.

Payment Checks Are Part of the Same Sweep

ONJN has also warned payment companies over transactions linked to unlicensed gambling sites. Providers are expected to stop such payments and report cases they identify.

The regulator says some operators try to hide gambling transactions behind incorrect merchant codes or other payment descriptions. That gives ONJN another route to pursue the same businesses even after a domain changes.

With new clone sites still appearing, the blacklist is unlikely to stay static for long.