The 13th edition of the Reunion of Gambling Professionals, probably one of the best events in recent years dedicated to the gambling industry in Romania

The 13th edition of the Reunion of Gambling Professionals will remain a landmark moment in the history of events organized by CASINO INSIDE magazine.

Why? Because it introduced a new, more interactive way of organizing panels, with more panelists for each topic, which led to discussions that were not only interesting but also resulted in solutions to the problems facing our industry.

The new way of presenting the content at our event allowed for an approach that enabled more dialogue and more involvement from those present. The specialists who supported the panels related more easily to the audience because each panel had 2-3 or even 4 professionals who presented both the problems that plague them daily and the solutions that can be found. This reinforced the feeling that our event was a useful one, receiving a lot of praise at the end.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our partners who supported the realization of this event!

Main Partner:

Partners:

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2025 brought additional turbulence to the gambling market. Operators are adapting, gaming machine manufacturers are adapting, and everyone in the industry, both vertically and horizontally, must reinvent themselves to withstand the new realities. Increased taxes have led to a decline in the number of operators in both retail and online, with everyone looking for ways to survive.

The topics discussed included: the black market, self-exclusion, and the project to establish a Single Register of excluded and self-excluded persons, the Public Register of Gaming Facilities, legislation, taxation, fiscality, operation, marketing, technology, AML, GDPR, compliance, social responsibility, and projects to be financed from taxes already paid by operators.

We were delighted to see a number of participants exceeding our expectations, a sign that interest in this type of event remains strong.

This year’s meeting featured 11 panels with 22 speakers. The event was moderated with great professionalism by Prof. Marius Pantea, PhD.

EVENT PANELS:

Panel 1: Authorities. Presentation of the situation of the gambling industry in Romania in 2025

The president of the National Gambling Office, Vlad-Cristian Soare, gave an exhaustive presentation on the current state of the gambling industry, focusing on: Market Size, Activities Carried Out, Control Measures, the Black Market, Digitization, and Future Projects.

Vlad – Cristian Soare

We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation and gratitude to President Vlad Cristian Soare for his consistent presence at our event, for his countless answers to questions from the audience, for the valuable information he has provided to the industry, and for the sincerity and respect he has for the people in our industry, which he conveys through his positive attitude and openness to dialogue.

Panel 2: Online. Legislative challenges for the online gambling industry in 2025

Odeta Nestor

At this panel, Ms. Odeta Nestor, president of the Association of Remote Gambling Organizers

(AOJND), presented the illicit gambling market in Europe, showing that the black market phenomenon is a cross-border one, providing us with details on the black market in several European countries.

Panel 3. CEO ARENA. Challenges and solutions in the online gambling business environment

This panel was a first for our magazine, as we wanted to find out from the highest level of a company in our industry what the problems are, but also what solutions our speakers can offer. That is why, in addition to the president of ONJN, Vlad Soare and Ms. Odeta Nestor, we invited two super-specialists in the field, who have a lot of expertise and experience in the field—Lucian Prisecaru, General Manager of FDJ UNITED Romania, and Horia Valuch, COO of NetBet Romania—to tell us more about the challenges in the online gambling business environment.

They discussed taxation and fiscal instability, strict advertising regulations, competition between the regulated and unregulated markets, player protection against the black market and the sustainability of legal businesses, the call for transformation and self-regulation, and finally, the prospects for the industry.

Panel 4. Social responsibility. About responsible gaming funds in 2025.

On this topic, Mr. Vlad-Cristian Soare, President of the National Office for Gambling (ONJN), wanted to highlight the progress made under his mandate in terms of social responsibility, especially the launch of transparent decision-making, for a period of 30 calendar days, of draft orders concerning:

The methodology for evaluating, selecting, and financing projects and the Applicant’s Guide for the National Public Interest Program “Conscious and Free” – 2026 funding session.

On this occasion, we learned that the total budget allocated is 25,416,600 lei (equivalent to 5,000,000 euros), and the distribution of the budget is as follows:

• 6,099,984 lei (equivalent to 1,200,000 euros) – infrastructure projects for the establishment, expansion, or equipping of treatment centers for gambling addiction (eligible exclusively for public authorities);
• 19,316,616 lei (equivalent to 3,800,000 euros) – projects in the areas of prevention and education, protection of minors, treatment and counseling, research, digitization, and promotion of responsible gaming.

Ovidiu Iosif

The other speaker present, Mr. Ovidiu Iosif, President of the Responsible Gaming Association, gave a presentation on the activities and achievements of the organization he represents this year, highlighting the assistance provided to individuals with pathological gambling addiction issues.

Panel 5. Marketing. How to achieve effective marketing in online gambling.

Radu Ciuperca & Vlastimir Vukadinovic

This panel was very interesting and had a dynamic vibe. We would like to thank Vlastimir Vukadinovic, Chief Marketing Officer at Winbet, and Radu Ciupercă, Brand Manager at Fortuna Entertainment Group, for the excellent ideas presented here. They discussed how to adapt marketing content to combat the black market, how much legislative restrictions on the use of influencers in marketing materials have affected marketers, how prepared they are, as marketing specialists, for a consistent restriction on the possibility of advertising to the general public, and so on.

Panel 6. Legislation. Analysis of new legislative changes and how they affect the smooth running of the gambling industry.

Ana-Maria Baciu, Managing Partner at Baciu Partners, together with Andrei Cosma, Partner at Baciu Partners, and Carmen Buriu, Compliance Coordinator at Winner & 888 Romania, discussed current issues related to gambling legislation. The discussions were very interesting and useful. Thank you all for the constructive discussions.

Panel 7. Marketing in retail gambling. Challenges and solutions for the Romanian retail gambling market.

Andrei Frimescu, Marketing and Communications Director at Game World Romania, accompanied by Silviu Torcătoru, Head of Operations at MaxBet Romania, Patricia Tomoş, Marketing Specialist at GPC, and Alexandra Şerb, Marketing Director at Magnum, discussed the challenges and solutions we may encounter when marketing in and for our gaming halls.

Panel 8. Operational flexibility in configuring jackpot parameters. Novomatic Linked Progressives.

Daniel Ioniţă, Head of Technical Support at NOVOMATIC, introduced us to the technical world of Novomatic products, providing us with more details about the Cobra motherboard and how to best configure Novomatic’s progressive jackpot.

Panel 9. AML: How we build trust and resilience in the gambling industry through AML compliance.

Rodica Tarcea, Head of Compliance ESG, GDPR, AML at MaxBet Romania, and Gabriel Mazilu, AML Compliance Consultant, highlighted the needs of our field in this regard, as well as solutions to the problems. They discussed rethinking the role of AML in the gambling industry, adopting best practices in the field, investing in technology, eliminating excessive AML measures, etc.

Panel 10. COMPLIANCE. How important is compliance with legislative norms in the gambling industry?

Linda Şerbu, independent consultant, and Horaţiu Grigorescu, GDPR expert, emphasized the importance of real compliance, rather than formal compliance. They also discussed cooperation between departments, where vulnerabilities arise, where control is lost, and so on.

With regard to GDPR, the EU regulations on the subject were discussed, as well as the impact of the data collected on analytics, profiling, personalization, and marketing. Principles, security measures, and codes of conduct were also discussed.

Panel 11. PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN ROMANIA. Lobbying & Advocacy.

Codrin Scutaru, CEO of Public Affairs Solutions, together with Matei Repan, Senior Government Relations Associate, and Guy Burrow, External Counsel, spoke openly about how much a good communication strategy or good management of government relations can help an industry like ours. They also discussed a recent study related to the gambling industry, which we will cover in more detail in the pages of our magazine.

The 13th edition of the Reunion of Gambling Professionals was a success because the way in which information was delivered to participants was new, modern, and adapted to current times, choosing to deliver content through dialogue and interactive discussions, which led to the identification of solutions that can be taken from here and brought in one form or another to the attention of the authorities for better and more effective regulation of the field.