THE GAMES „OF CHANCE” IN ROMANIA ”… the sheep should not be skinned, should be milked!”

By PhD, Attorney-at-Law. Marius PANTEA

As if in competition with the disastrous economic situation, the neighbouring war and the threat of the return of the pandemic, a legislative amendment to GEO 77/2009 appeared in August, which seems to have been made to bury the gambling industry in our country. While the state’s need to collect more money for the budget in these troubled times is understandable, one cannot help but notice the chaotic way of doing so, with seemingly meaningless legislative changes.

Without analyzing the changes one by one, which seem to want to bring the Romanian gambling industry on its knees, just by comparing some of the figures that show the level from which it started and the aberrations that have been reached, it can be seen that, just for the issuance of a poor piece of paper – license – the state will charge no more and no less than 9,500 euros. I don’t think there is a paper issued by a state authority in the civilized world that is more expensive than the License issued by the NGO, maybe only the valuable papers issued by a National Bank. Otherwise, ”it doesn’t exist”. Probably those who made such a proposal, but especially those at the NGO, who accepted it, do not realize what it means for a commercial company in today’s times to collect and pay the sum of 9,500 euros for a lousy piece of paper. It is paradoxical to pay such an amount for a piece of paper when all 2nd class licensees pay the same amount for work done for a year. Incredible, isn’t it?

Marius PANTEA

The fact that the legislative amendment did not take into account the opinion of the industry specialists and has introduced new taxes, some higher, some lower, without taking into account the principle of sharing the tax burden in such a way that it can be fair and especially bearable, will soon lead to a contraction of the industry, which will result in much lower revenues to the state budget than expected. The initiator, which on paper is the NGO, seems to have sat down at the table and “with one stroke of the pen” has slammed a string of amounts, percentages and new obligations, without taking into account the risk of disintegrating an industry, just out of the pandemic period, trying to regain its breath.

In addition to this mischief, the normative act, issued overnight, is lame and blind, i.e., it does not respect the most elementary rules of legislative technique nor the principles enshrined in the general theory of law. Specifically, a framework law, such as GEO 77/2009, for the field of gambling, was amended by a simple Ordinance, which is not allowed, and the regulation does not contain transitional rules. In other words, gambling operators who cannot pay the new taxes will only be able to get out of the “game” through insolvency, direct bankruptcy or confiscation of assets.

Another problem lies in the application of the new fees, from what date do they apply, what happens to existing licenses and authorizations at the time of the legislative changes, the fact that there is no clear provision stipulating how the new rules will be applied, will give rise to a problem of interpretation, attributed to NGO, which, as is known, in recent times, is not only consistent in interpreting the legal rules governing the field of gambling in our country.

For the normal world, it is natural to apply the principle that the law only applies to the future, which means that the old fees (those existing at the date of the Decision issued by the Supervisory Committee of the NGO) will be paid for authorizations existing at the date of the new rules. But what can you see, the eminent lawyers of the NGO and various specialists (who appeared overnight in the Office), have concocted the possibility of applying the new fees immediately, “for all the people”, it does not matter that there are previously issued permits that are valid. This is unacceptable, for an institution such as the NGO, the law only provides for the future, which means that the new fees will only be applied to operators who are licensed or have obtained authorizations after the date of the new rules.

It would be advisable to issue an Order of the President of the NGO, which would provide for a uniform interpretation of the legal provisions, which would not allow its own employees or those of the Court of Auditors, at the next audit in the institution, to find any misconduct, as happened in 2015 in the pharmaceutical sector (when a “madam” was found to interpret a legal provision – which has given rise to a situation where the National Health House has to recover from all the pharmacies in Romania huge amounts of money, and the poor government, trying to change the regulations so that the pharmacies do not actually close). But let’s hope that can’t happen to us too.

Not taking into account the energy and gas prices, which today have reached an unbearable level, in the field of gambling they have become another big worry for the operators, because the amounts paid are substantial and have turned the companies’ budgets upside down rivaling the huge expenses for rents, license and permit fees, taxes and fees for employees, the legislator does not care about this industry, and maintains the exceptions from granting various incentives, aids or whatever they call them, to our gambling industry. It doesn’t matter that most of the gambling operation relies on a substantial consumption of electricity, gambling operators can’t access funds to install photovoltaic panels or whatever other green energy alternatives, because the CAEN code doesn’t allow it. Perhaps the time has come to remove this discrimination from the market, if gambling has been set to bring in the famous billion euro to the budget.

The critical look at the monumental blunders, certainly made by non-specialists, is as a result of the turmoil in the gambling market, where honest operators are looking for solutions to continue to exist. Yes, unfortunately at this point the question of staying in the market is no longer about profit or development, about implementing new technologies and evolution, but only about the survival of the business. In a crazy world, maybe there is reason and maybe the gambling business will be treated with due care and respect, reminding us once again that gambling  is not an ashtray but part of the entertainment industry.