On August 1, 2026, Romania introduced a new tiered taxing system for gambling winnings, approved by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s government as part of a fiscal measure to...
Romania has announced the appointment of Valentin-Ioan Tomescu as the new president of the National Gambling Office (ONJN) after the shocking dismissal of former chief Vlad-Cristian Soare, formalized by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
The government hasn’t announced any reasoning behind the decision to remove Soare from the position; however, the news was first shared on August 21, 2026, in Romania’s official gazette, the Monitorul Oficial al României. The former ONJN president was dismissed under Decision No. 283/2026.
The replacement comes after Soare stepped into the position in May 2025, at a time when authorities had discovered over €1 billion in missing taxes, license payments, and failed audits by the ONJN. The former president of the regulatory body vowed to strengthen the industry’s operations and improve Romania’s gambling framework, introducing a new self-exclusion system and blocking over 1,300 illegal gambling platforms.
Vlad-Cristian Soare wrote:
“I am glad to announce a paradigm shift in the activity of the ONJN and, at the same time, an important success in our efforts to protect gambling participants. With this landmark decision, we convey to the entire industry that advertising must be analysed by its content and by its actual effect on the consumer, not just by the presence of mandatory formal elements.”
Tomescu, who previously led the ONJN’s South-East Territorial Service in Constanta, is set to lead the country’s gambling regulatory authority while the investigations into corruption concerns are still in process.
