Criminal investigation starts into Romanian Lottery over unauthorised gambling

Prosecutors with the Prosecution Office of the Bucharest Court of Appeal have ordered the start of a criminal investigation into the Romanian Lottery over unauthorised or unlicensed slot-machine gambling in 2006-2014 that involved 6,263 such machines and damage estimated at RON 463 million.

Photo credit: (c) CRISTIAN NISTOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The prosecutors also ordered a lien on bank accounts of people investigated in this case.

'In relation to criminal case 39/P/2015 of the Prosecution Office with the Bucharest Court of Appeal a criminal probe has been ordered over unlicensed or unauthorised gambling penalised under Article 23 (1) of Government Emergency Ordinance 77/2009 on gambling. On March 26, 2015, under ordinance 39/P/2015 of the Prosecution Office with the Bucharest Court of Appeal, the criminal probe was extended to include the National Romanian Lottery Corporation for criminal offences penalised under Article 23 (1) of Government Emergency Ordinance 77/2009 in application of Article 35 (1) of the Criminal Code, perpetrated in 2006-2014, which means slot machine gambling was operated without possessing a licence or business authorisation using 6,263 slot machines made available by other legal entities,' the Bucharest Court of Appeal reports in a press release issued on Wednesday.

Under the same ordinance, a probe was ordered into LOTROM SA company for having made available to the National Romanian Lottery Corporation slot machines for unauthorised or unlicensed gambling. The damage incurred by the offenses is estimated at RON 463,373,647. AGERPRES