“THE ROMANIAN MĂMĂLIGĂ HAS EXPLODED!” WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEW VISION OF GAMBLING

             Steven Sampson, an American anthropologist who published an article six years before the 1989 Revolution entitled „Muddling through in Romania: Why the mămăliga doesn’t explode” in the International Journal of Romanian Studies, 1981-1983, was first to publicly use this idiom, which challenged the idea of Romanian passivity. In his works, Alex Drace-Francis links mămăligă to important historical moments, such as the Revolution of 1821 and the Uprising of 1907, highlighting the essential role of corn in the Romanian diet.

by Lawyer Prof. dr. Marius PANTEA

Lawyer Prof. dr. Marius PANTEA

This idiom was also invoked during the 1989 Revolution, when a revolutionary shouted:  “Brothers, the mămăligă has finally exploded!”[1]. The idiomwas used again at the end of the second round of the presidential elections, which have just ended, and which succeeded in rousing the Romanian people from their inertia. This article is not intended to be an analysis of the political event mentioned, but merely highlights the fact that there are also expectations, hopes, and challenges in the field of gambling, which will have to be taken into account by the new government, led by the elected president.

The difficult times ahead will certainly have an impact on the gambling industry in our country, and we hope that the solutions to be identified and implemented by the new government will be the result of consultation with the local business community and the authority responsible for regulating the sector (ONJN), which has seen a change in leadership since May. The new President, a professional in the field, has quickly identified the priority issues and, following discussions with the Advisory Council, has put forward a legislative proposal to clarify the issue of preventing and combating addiction through the use of self-exclusion tools.

In short, the problems identified and the proposed legislative solution aim to differentiate between self-exclusion as a result of gambling addiction and self-exclusion generated by the player’s needs, which consists of limiting access to certain services or operators only. The legislative proposal aims to amend Article 15^1 of GEO 77/2009 and introduce three additional articles (15^2, 15^3, and 15^4) to uniformly regulate and clarify aspects related to:

• the self-exclusion period (6, 9, 12 months) and the establishment of clear conditions for registering and deleting self-exclusion applications;
• clarification of obligations and uniform application of legal provisions to all licensed land-based and online gambling operators;
• simplifying the procedures for submitting self-exclusion applications and ensuring data confidentiality and security;
• creating a single register of self-excluded persons (National Register of Self-Excluded Persons), managed by the ONJN;
• protecting the personal data of self-excluded persons through clear verification and security procedures;
• ensuring compliance with the self-exclusion measure through real-time access to the register for all licensed operators, by setting a 24-hour deadline for the registration in the Register of Self-Excluded Persons to become enforceable against all operators;
• informing players about the existence of specialized counselling and treatment solutions, thus facilitating access to the necessary support;
• explicit recognition through the legal framework of the possibility for gambling operators to register as “undesirable” a person who violates the organizer’s own rules;
• maintaining a balance between the operator’s right to protect its business and the individual’s right to access similar services from other operators, while introducing the obligation to keep records of persons declared undesirable, with operators being responsible for managing such situations in a transparent manner;
• a relevant proposal to sanction gaming operators who violate the relevant provisions;

GAMBLING

The proposed legislative amendment, also discussed by the Advisory Council attached to ONJN, will clarify how the state will implement the policy to prevent gambling addiction and will eliminate interpretations which have given rise to situations where self-excluded persons have managed to gamble during their period of self-exclusion and then, encouraged by some posts on social media, have requested the return of the money lost and taken legal action against gambling operators to obtain moral and material damages.

The proposed amendment will resolve an issue that has created confusion between the text on self-exclusion in Article 15^1 of GEO 77/2009, which refers to self-exclusion on grounds of addiction and which should have protected vulnerable persons from any type of gambling, regardless of whether it is offered in physical locations or online, and the “self-exclusion” provided for in Government Decision 111/2016, which in reality is only an interruption of play with a single online gambling operator.

In the hope that the new state leadership will consider regulating the gambling industry in our country in line with European practices and that the proposed measures will prevent and combat gambling addiction, we will keep Casino Inside readers informed about the initiative presented and its further implementation.

[1] https://pescurt.ro/stiri-actualitate/expresia-explozia-mamaligii-si-originile-sale-in-istoria-romana