Romania has issued its latest batch of online gambling licenses, featuring many familiar names as well as some notable omissions.
Romania approved its new online gambling regime this spring, along with a demand for license applicants to pony up back taxes worth 20% of the revenue they’d earned from Romanian punters in the previous five years. In July, the country showed it meant business by releasing its inaugural online gambling blacklist containing some 48 domains.
This week, Romania issued a fresh batch of provisional licenses, bringing the total number of approved operators to 13. The list now includes 888 Holdings, Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars and Full Tilt brands, Betfair, local bookies Casa Pariurilor, Czech operator Fortuna, GVC Holdings’ Sportingbet brand, Eastern European operator Mozzart Bet, Playtech’s Winner brand, Superbet and Unibet. This group joins Netbet, Stanleybet and Winmasters, who received their nods this summer.
The list doesn’t include Bwin.party, despite CEO Norbert Teufelberger declaring last week that the company had agreed to pay €7.9m in back taxes to ensure its approval. Also absent are Ladbrokes and William Hill, each of which withdrew from Romania earlier this year.
888 DOES DENMARK
888, which says it paid €3.1m in Romanian back taxes, also announced that it has been approved to operate in Denmark’s regulated online gambling market. While 888poker, 888casino and 888sport are all currently available for registration and wagering in Romania, the Danish sites won’t get an official launch until Monday, Sept. 7.
888 COO Itai Frieberger said the concurrent launches in two new European regulated markets reaffirmed the company’s strategy “to become a dominant operator in global gaming regulations” and highlighted 888’s ability “to leverage our regulated technology and knowhow in delivering our market-leading products.”
