Isle of Man-based online gambling operator The Rational Group announced that its PokerStars and BetStars brands have been awarded a full license for the provision of gambling options within Romania’s borders. Granted by the local gambling regulator – Oficiul National pentru Jocuri de Noroc (ONJN), the license in question will become effective on September 1.
Last year, Romania adopted new gambling laws, thus re-regulating its online gambling market and opening it to international operators and suppliers. Over the past several months, the PokerStars, Full Tilt, and BetStars brands have provided their options on .ro domains under an interim license by the country’s regulator.
In order to comply with the requirements posed by the full license, they will launch new gambling software in the country and will implement certain other important changes. For instance, they will adopt responsible gambling controls that correspond to the country’s regulations. In addition, The Rank Group and parent company Amaya will have to only work with partners that have been granted a Class 2 license in Romania.
Last but not least, the Full Tilt brand will no longer operate in the country and players will be migrated to the PokerStars brand.
The Rational Group said in a Friday statement that local PokerStars players will still be able to take part in a global shared liquidity player pool and that the BetStars offering will remain unchanged.
Visitors to Romania will be allowed to use their domestic software to play on both PokerStars and BetStars while temporarily being in the country. As for Romanian residents temporarily going abroad, they will be able to use their accounts, however, subject to the regulations of the jurisdiction they are traveling to.
Commenting on the latest announcement, Amaya Vice President of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser said that they are really happy to be given the opportunity to provide their gambling options to Romanian players under the newly adopted gambling regulations.
The official further noted that being granted a full license in Romania is another indication of Amaya’s commitment to contribute to the growth of the online gambling business by supporting local regulations that are equally beneficial to both players and service providers, and bring additional revenue to regulators.
