Buy-side acquisition · Romania
Buy a Gaming License in Romania — ONJN Class 1 operators
Romania regulates every game of chance on its territory through the Oficiul Național pentru Jocuri de Noroc (ONJN), under Government Emergency Ordinance 77/2009. A Class 1 licence held by an established Romanian operator is what Cadena Brokers puts on your desk: pre-vetted for regulatory standing, banking continuity, and a clean shareholder file, ready for the change-of-control notification.
Why Romania
A maturing regulated market where the squeeze favors acquirers
The ONJN sits under the Romanian Ministry of Finance as a specialised supervisory body, created by GEO 20/2013 and operating the licensing framework of GEO 77/2009 with implementing rules in Government Decision 111/2016. Romania licensed its online market early by regional standards, and nineteen million residents wager through licensed channels at volumes that keep the regulated sector commercially serious. This is a single-market authorization. It does not passport. What it buys is a deep, enforced, locally-taxed market with a regulator that actively pursues unlicensed supply.
The acquirer’s case rests on what happened between 2023 and 2025. GEO 82/2023 flat-rated the annual licence fee irrespective of turnover, lifted the authorisation tax to 30% of gambling revenue, and capped outdoor advertising at 35 square metres. The 2025 advertising code then pushed TV gambling spots into the 23:00 to 06:00 window (betting carve-outs aside) and banned celebrity endorsements outright from October 2025. Costs went up while marketing room shrank. Marginal operators are exiting, and their licences ride out with the companies that hold them. For a capitalized buyer, that is inventory.
One more 2023 change tilts the table toward acquisition. Operators established elsewhere in the EU, EEA or Switzerland must now register a Romanian permanent establishment for tax before holding a B2C licence. A greenfield foreign application therefore carries incorporation, tax registration and a full ONJN dossier before revenue. Buying an operating Romanian licensee skips all three.
Scope
What a Romanian online gambling license permits
Class 1 covers business-to-consumer gambling, online and land-based. An online Class 1 operator may offer betting, casino, live-dealer, poker and bingo products on the Romanian platform, which the law defines as all players on Romanian IP addresses plus Romanian citizens without foreign fiscal residence. The licence runs for ten years and is renewable; the operating authorisation that sits beneath it is annual. Class 2 captures the B2B layer (platform providers, live-casino studios, payment processors, affiliates, testing labs), and Class 3 is the state lottery monopoly, which is not for sale to anyone.
Two supervisory mechanics matter to a buyer. First, Order 33/2025 requires notification to the ONJN of any change in the licensed entity’s shareholders or share-capital structure, on top of the standing duty to report significant changes to the licensing file. Diligence on the target’s notification history is cheap insurance. Second, the 2024 amendments expressly prohibit white-label arrangements that let an unlicensed entity run gambling activity behind a licensee’s authorization. You cannot rent a Romanian licence. The share deal is the route, which is precisely the transaction we broker.
Our book
What we broker in Romania
Our Romanian mandates center on Class 1 online operators with active annual authorisation, settled tax history at the permanent-establishment level, and functioning local banking. Typical acquirers are international operators entering their first EU-regulated market, regional groups consolidating around the Black Sea corridor, and platform owners converting B2B revenue into a B2C position. Before an entity reaches your shortlist it has passed our three diligence gates: regulatory standing with the ONJN (including the Order 33/2025 notification trail), banking continuity through closing, and an AML programme with the key compliance personnel staying on. Entity names stay behind NDA until a mandate is signed.
Process
How the acquisition runs
You brief us on product mix, capital envelope and operating plan; we present matched, pre-vetted Romanian targets under NDA. Diligence and negotiation run against the regulatory calendar, with the ONJN shareholder-change notification prepared alongside the share-purchase agreement rather than after it. Closings are expedited because the vetting work is already done. The full four-step sequence is on our process page.
Why Cadena
The buy-side broker for regulated licences
- One mandate, yours. We act for acquirers only. No listing inventory to defend, no split loyalty when a Romanian seller pushes back on price.
- Regulator-literate diligence. ONJN authorisation cycles, the 2025 advertising code, and permanent-establishment tax standing are checked before you see the target, not discovered in confirmatory diligence.
- Banking survives the closing. Romanian gambling accounts are hard-won; we verify the banking relationship transfers with the entity, because a licence without an account is a shelf ornament.
FAQ
Romania gaming license: acquirer questions
Is there a gaming license in Romania for sale?
Licences themselves do not trade separately in Romania; the white-label prohibition closed every workaround. What sells is the licensed company. Cadena maintains a book of Romanian Class 1 operators whose shareholders are open to a sale, each pre-vetted for regulatory standing and banking continuity. Brief us on your requirements and we present matched targets under NDA.
How much does a Romania gaming license cost?
Budget around three layers rather than a single number: the recurring state charges set by GEO 82/2023, the authorisation tax of 30% on gambling revenue, and the operating costs of the permanent establishment. Acquisition pricing for a licensed company then depends on its revenue, authorisation history and banking. We model the all-in position per target during diligence.
How do you get an online gambling license in Romania?
The greenfield route is a full ONJN dossier: corporate establishment or EU permanent establishment, fit-and-proper review of shareholders and management, technical certification of the platform, and the annual authorisation on top of the ten-year licence. The faster route for most foreign entrants is acquiring an operator that already holds both, then filing the shareholder-change notification under Order 33/2025.
Do you need a license to open a casino in Romania?
Yes. Every game of chance offered on Romanian territory, online or land-based, requires a Class 1 licence and a live operating authorisation from the ONJN under GEO 77/2009. Unlicensed operation is criminally sanctioned, and since Law 141/2025 even B2B suppliers must block unlicensed access to the Romanian market.
Can a foreign company hold a Romanian gaming license?
Only operators based in Romania, or by exemption in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, qualify for a B2C licence, and the EU route still requires a Romanian permanent establishment registered for tax. Acquiring an existing Romanian licensee satisfies the establishment requirement on day one, which is why most cross-border entries we see are structured as share purchases.
Next step
Acquire an ONJN-licensed operator
Tell us your product mix and capital envelope. We respond with matched, pre-vetted Romanian Class 1 targets under NDA, and we act for you alone.
Send an acquisition brief
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Also weighing other gaming jurisdictions? Compare the Malta MGA route and the Greek HGC market, or start from the Cadena Brokers homepage.
