The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) is encouraging Romanian officials to establish a national self-exclusion register for gambling to help protect players in the country from gambling harm.
In conversation with the Romanian news channel Antena 3 at a recent event held at the Romanian Parliament organised by the Romanian online gambling association (AOJND), the EGBA’s Secretary General, Maarten Haijer, explained why a gambling self-exclusion register is a must in the country to promote responsible play.
Haijer said: “We need to have very targeted, specific regulation that really addresses the prevention of harm of individuals, rather than very horizontal, one-size-fits-all regulation, because that has proven to be not as successful as more targeted.
“Our advice would be to set up a self-exclusion register as quickly as possible because that allows people who don’t want to gamble to self-exclude.”
The EGBA has recommended that Romania’s gambling self-exclusion system should be applied to land-based and online operators, be clearly communicated, be hosted on a user-friendly, GDPR-compliant government website and be easily accessible via gambling platforms.
In addition, the system should be applied in real-time and be fail-proof, have clear minimum and maximum self-exclusion durations, provide registered players with support information, as well as force operators to remove self-excluded players from marketing databases.
According to the EGBA, 17 European Union member states implement a national self-exclusion register for gambling.
Last month, the association reported a 15% year-over-year increase in online gross gaming revenue from its members in its Annual Activity Report 2025.
Most gaming verticals underwent revenue growth in the past year, with casino games having the largest share of GGR generated at over 50%.
Haijer stated: “It was a significant year for EGBA: our membership expanded, we hosted a record-breaking European Safer Gambling Week that reached over three million citizens with safety messages, and we provided input into many important policy discussions.
“As Finland completes its transition from a monopoly to a licensing system, all EU member states will soon have some form of multi-licensing framework for online gambling. This is a major milestone, representing a fundamental change in Europe’s regulatory landscape over the past 15 years, and validates our view that competitive, well-regulated markets are the best way to protect consumers.
“Looking ahead, we’ll continue to promote effective policies that support safer gambling and address remaining anti-competitive regulation and practices.”
