Romania’s Iasi County to Shut Down All Slot Machine Venues in Sweeping Local Ban

All 98 local councils in Romania’s Iasi county have voted to shut down every land-based venue hosting slot machines, making it the first county in the country to enact a complete, county-wide ban on slot halls. The decision comes after a grassroots campaign backed by local activists and follows a shift in regulatory power from Romania’s national gambling authority to municipal governments earlier this year.

Iasi, Romania’s second most populous county, will see closures roll out on different timelines depending on each council’s approach. Some local authorities plan to shutter venues immediately, while others intend to let existing operator licenses run their course. According to the national gambling regulator ONJN, the last slot machine licenses in the county are set to expire in February 2027, meaning even the slowest-moving councils will have fully phased out land-based slot gaming within roughly seven months.

How Local Councils Gained the Power to Ban Gambling Venues

The closures in Iasi are only possible because of Government Emergency Ordinance 7/2026, which Romania’s central government enacted in late February 2026. The ordinance transferred licensing authority for land-based gambling halls away from ONJN and handed it to local councils, requiring operators to secure both a national ONJN license and a separate annual local authorization to keep running. That change gave mayors and municipal councils direct veto power over whether slot venues and betting shops can operate within their borders at all.

The reform built on earlier restrictions Romania introduced in 2024, which banned slot halls in towns with fewer than 15,000 residents and added new zoning and advertising rules for the industry. Government officials have said more than 200 municipalities across the country could ultimately pursue full bans under the new framework, with cities including Slatina, Buzau, and Focsani already moving to exercise the same veto powers Iasi’s councils used.

What the Ban Means for Romania’s Gambling Landscape

Diana Stoica, a member of parliament with the Save Romania Union party who helped drive the legislative push, has said the new rules let local authorities respond to gambling license applications with a definitive yes or no, and set precise terms for where venues can operate if approved. Gambling remains legal and regulated at the national level in Romania, but the local authorization layer now functions as a second gate that operators must clear on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis, in addition to whatever license they already hold from ONJN.

Paul Ciobanu, co-founder of the anti-gambling campaign group In Strada, which pushed for the Iasi bans, said no new permits will be issued for gaming halls or slot machines in the county going forward. With Iasi now the first county to eliminate land-based slot gaming entirely, industry observers expect other Romanian counties weighing similar measures to watch how the phased closures play out before finalizing their own timelines.

A Wave of Bans Building Since Early 2026

Iasi is not acting in isolation. Since GEO 7/2026 took effect, at least nine municipalities moved quickly to signal full bans, including Slatina in southern Romania, where the mayor pledged to phase out every gambling venue in the city as current licenses lapse. Buzau and Focsani followed with their own draft prohibitions, and officials in Constanta have publicly stated their intent to bar slot-machine venues as well. Bucharest’s District 3 council has also requested a general ban, though a final decision there remains pending.

Local governments that do choose to permit gambling under the new framework aren’t left without leverage either. Iasi’s draft regulations, for example, proposed a local tax of roughly 500 Romanian lei per square meter annually for venues that continue operating, on top of extensive documentation requirements covering fire safety, tax standing, and proof of legal occupancy. Operators must also give local authorities five days’ notice before commencing operations in any jurisdiction, regardless of whether they already hold both a national and local authorization.

The scale of the shift is significant for an industry that had operated under a single national regulatory framework for years. With more than 200 municipalities reportedly considering full prohibitions, Romania’s land-based slot machine sector faces a rapidly fragmenting patchwork of local rules rather than one uniform national standard. Some markets may retain robust slot-hall footprints where local councils choose to permit them, while others, like Iasi, will have eliminated the format entirely well before the last national licenses expire in 2027.

The shift mirrors a broader pattern of gambling markets in Europe increasingly favoring stricter local oversight of land-based venues, even as regulated online and sports betting options continue to expand elsewhere on the continent.