Romanian parliamentarian slams regulator

Dumitru Mihalescul, member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, has called for tighter gambling regulations in the country in a parliamentary question to the head of the country’s National Office for Gambling, Marius-Sebastian Ionescu. Mihalescul said he was not opposed to gambling itself, but was strongly against the way in which the industry has been allowed to operate in Romania, which he said allowed it to exist in areas where children will be exposed to gambling. “Personally, as an entrepreneur, I am a strong supporter of any private initiative whose purpose is regulated in accordance with the goals of Romanian society,” Mihalescul said. “Unfortunately, however, the poor regulation of the organisation of gambling in Romania allowed this type of business to develop in the proximity of schools or even within blocks of stairs.” Mihalescul asked three questions to Ionescu regarding the regulation of gambling in Romania, the first of which concerned whether the National Office for Gambling had proposed any legislation to prevent gambling around schools and public spaces. Mihalescul’s second question concerned whether there were any effective measures in place to prevent children from gambling online. “You know very well that the only filter against access to minors on the Internet is a question like ‘Are you over 18?’ — a restriction that can be avoided even by a 7 year old,” Mihalescul said to Ionescu. The third question asked whether it would be appropriate to confine gambling to specific, tourist-heavy, regions of the country. The question was provided in written form and has not yet received a response, though under Article 111 of the Romanian constitution, the National Office for Gambling — as a government body — must provide a response.