Romania’s National Gambling Office (ONJN) has called on Meta and Google to remove adverts that promote unlicenced operators in the country with immediate effect.
The regulator said it had found paid ads for illegal operators on the ONJN’s black list on several Meta platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, as well as Google’s search engine,
The adverts in question are alleged to have targeted Romanian players and promoted sites that violate Romania’s legislation.
In messages sent to Meta and Google, the ONJN has requested an investigation into the cases and the immediate suspension of the paid averts.
Meta and Google have also been asked to provide the data on the accounts running the ads, as well as for measures to be put in place to prevent it happening again.
Speaking at a Fighting Financial Crime in Central Europe conference organised by Deloitte, ONJN president Vlad-Christian Soare emphasised the importance of regulators intervening and combatting the black market in order to protect its customers.
He said: “The black market in gambling is a social threat; players have no protection, and the state faces a significant risk to its economic and financial security.
“When we talk about this market, the question is not whether it exists, but how we can combat it effectively.
“The black market in gambling is not just about tax evasion. The income obtained from illegal gambling is one of the main sources of financing other criminal activities, including terrorism and money laundering, and it also represents an uncontrolled space, devoid of any form of protection for players.
“Although the black market is rarely or not talked about in the public space in Romania, it has an unsuspected dimension worldwide.
“It is estimated that, at EU level, of the total gambling income, over 70% goes to the black market, and under 30% to the regulated market.”
Soare added that Romania’s regulated market contributed roughly €1bn in 2024 as well as €1bn from indirect taxes, and that if the black market is ignored and an effective tax solution is not applied in Romania, increasing taxes will push more players towards illegal operators.
He also highlighted the lack of taxation on player winnings and promotions unlicensed firms can offer players that makes the black market “extremely attractive”.
He added: “The direct consequence is that social measures aimed at protecting vulnerable players from the potential negative effects of gambling, through even stricter regulation of gambling, have had and will continue to have the opposite effect, doing nothing but pushing a significant number of these players to migrate to the black market.
“Similarly, reaching an unsustainable tax threshold directly leads to the shrinking of the regulated market, simultaneously with the corresponding development of the black market, ie, to a reduction in the tax base.
“In this context, I would like to emphasise the fundamental importance of the institution I lead, one of the essential roles of ONJN being to provide statistics, information and analysis relating to players, the regulated market, the unregulated market and anything else related to the field of gambling.
“Based on these, the legislative power has all the necessary elements at its disposal to adopt normative acts that will produce the desired effect, not one contrary to the one sought.”
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National Gambling Office calls for tech giants to investigate paid promotions from firms on its black list, as well as provide data behind accounts promoting illegal businesses
The post Romanian regulator asks Meta and Google to remove unlicensed operator ads first appeared on EGR Intel.