According to the federation, 43,306 slot machines held valid authorizations in March, but only 15,579 did by November 1, and the figure is expected to drop to 9,096 by January 1, 2027, a 42% fall in two months, if no new council decisions are adopted. About 8,500 jobs have already been affected, it estimates.
The problem stems from Emergency Government Ordinance (GEO) No. 7/2026, adopted in February, which requires each local council to decide by resolution whether gambling is allowed in its area. Without those decisions, city halls can’t issue local permits and the National Office for Gambling (ONJN) can’t renew operating authorizations, yet fewer than 4% of Romania’s roughly 3,100 administrative-territorial units had acted by the 60-day deadline in April, and FEDBET says requests to city halls have gone unanswered. Some councils, including Timișoara, have used the new powers to block gambling venues.
Alexandru Domșa, President of FEDBET, said:
“Closing an authorized venue does not mean people stop playing. A large share of them end up on sites without a licence, where nobody checks their age, there are no deposit limits or protective measures, and the state collects nothing.”
The federation is asking the government and parliament to adopt temporary rules allowing operators that meet existing legal requirements to keep running until councils decide, stressing that it is not seeking tax relief. The Ministry of Finance has already included a 750 million lei shortfall in gambling tax receipts in its draft 2026 budget amendment, a figure FEDBET says reflects only the period before authorizations began expiring in large numbers.
