Over 10,000 interventions in a year to prevent and combat gambling addiction. The Responsible Gaming Association’s 2025 Report
How was 2025 for the Responsible Gaming Association
With the support of the association’s sponsors, namely—in alphabetical order: Admiral, Betano, Bonus, EGT, Game World, Romanian Lottery, Maxbet, Mr. Bit, Magic, Sector 2 City Hall, Superbet, SevenSlots, Totogaming, Unibet, VVenture, and Winbet—we were able to increase the scope of our programs compared to 2024.
Responsible Gaming
As a result, 265 people received free psychotherapy sessions at the Responsible Gaming Association’s offices as part of the program of the same name, designed for those who have crossed the line from recreational gaming. At the same time, the 24/7 Online Counseling program handled approximately 7,200 calls via the Live Chat available at www.jocresponsabil.ro, confirming the need for accessible, permanent, and specialized services for both those affected and their loved ones. For individuals needing longer-term support, the Virtual Support Groups continued to expand. Currently, over 170 people are enrolled in this program, which offers continuity, easy access, and a structured support framework, complementing individual interventions. The prevention and education component has been a central pillar of the Responsible Gaming Association’s work. Through programs tailored to the school environment, messages about preventing technology and gambling addiction, as well as about responsibility and community spirit, have reached over 2,600 students. These interventions were carried out in Sector 2 of Bucharest and in the city of Iași—through the “Navigating Safely” program—as well as in Constanța County, through the “RESET” program, and were adapted to the specific needs of each community.
In the Responsible Gaming program, most applicants were from Bucharest (660 – cumulative total as of November 2021).
The proportions of applications for enrollment in the program—and, for comparison, we also calculated the proportions of the general population (according to the 2021 census)—grouped by historical regions are presented in the following table. Significant changes are observed in 2025 compared to the average of previous years: the share of registrations from Bucharest & Iflov decreased (39%, compared to 51%), but the shares of enrollments from Dobrogea (8% compared to 6%), Transylvania (14% compared to 12%), Moldova (13% compared to 9%), and Muntenia (13% compared to 10%) have increased.
At the same time, the proportion of non-business calls (containing profanity) has decreased from the peak reached in January 2025.
Regarding the 24/7 Counseling program, there were 34% more calls in 2025 than in 2024 (7,191 compared to 5,383). The average duration per chat was 11 minutes and 40 seconds.
Of the 7,191 calls recorded, 6,534 (91%) were from Romania, while 657 came from 12 European countries with a large Romanian diaspora; the majority were from Germany (154) and the UK (111); the remaining 392 came from other countries.
The “Navigating Safely” program involved nearly 2,600 young people aged 14 to 17 from Sector 2 of the capital.
Parents are most concerned about technology addiction. Since a significant portion of technology “consumption” involves video games, we explained to the young people several mechanisms that can facilitate or encourage gambling (obviously on the black market, since these are teenagers under 18), such as “loot boxes,” microtransactions, or ad-hoc lotteries.
The impact of these mechanisms on continued video game play or attempts to gamble is by no means negligible, as shown in the graphs below, which makes it all the more important to provide adolescents with appropriate education starting as early as ages 13–14.
What can you tell us about the Association’s programs in 2026?
In 2026, as part of the “Conscious and Free” program launched by ONJN, we will support partner NGOs in submitting grant applications, contributing our expertise and 10% co-funding; we will also continue with the Association’s current programs during periods complementary to those in which ONJN-supported projects are implemented (the duration of ONJN-funded programs being a maximum of 6 months).
