TLDR Romania’s gambling regulator ONJN uncovered a licensed affiliate secretly redirecting players to illegal offshore gambling platforms using IP-based targeting The affiliate used a covert system that detected Romanian users and served them tailored links to unlicensed operators with fully localized sites The promoted platform NV Casino shares similarities with Novatech Solutions N.V. Casino, which was fined nearly €25 million by Dutch authorities ONJN has referred the case to Romania’s organized crime directorate for full criminal investigation Romania is also raising the legal gambling age from 18 to 21 and pushing strict limits on gambling advertising
Romania’s national gambling regulator has launched a criminal investigation into a licensed affiliate that was secretly funneling local players to illegal offshore gambling platforms.
The National Office for Gambling, known as ONJN, discovered the operation and has now referred the case to the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism. The agency is seeking full law enforcement support to dismantle the network.
According to ONJN, the affiliate was operating as a commercial intermediary with a hidden technical layer. The site read visitor IP addresses and served Romanian users tailored links to unlicensed gambling operators.
The regulator said this was not a simple error. The destination sites were fully localized for Romanian users, complete with local language support and easy registration.
Romanian citizens could sign up, deposit money, and gamble freely on these unregulated platforms. ONJN called the setup a deliberate technical mechanism designed to bypass national gambling laws for financial gain.
The Offshore Connection
The affiliate was heavily promoting a platform called NV Casino. Industry observers have noted this entity shares strong similarities with Novatech Solutions N.V. Casino.
That offshore operator was recently hit with a record fine of nearly twenty-five million euros. Dutch gambling authorities issued the penalty