The situation might change soon once a new legislation enforces that restricts such activities.
Anyone looking to set up a slots parlor business at the moment is required to have at least 75 slot machines and the licensing fee per machine is now double compared with last year, EUR3,000, in addition to the initial investment, annual taxes, personnel, technicians and rent.
The amount one needs to start such a business is roughly EUR600,000. A slot machine earns about EUR8,000 a month and Romanians who constantly go to a slots parlor spend about EUR100 per month.
According to the latest data available, the companies operating under the “Gambling and betting activities” NACE code ended last year with 5.3 billion lei (EUR1.2 billion) revenue and 29,000 employees. Romanian-held companies account for 57% of the total such businesses and 43% are foreign-held.
The leading gambling and betting company last year was Max Bet SRL, whose revenue stood at RON264.3 million and profit at RON75 million. Max Bet had climbed two positions since the 2012 ranking.
Max Bet, which operates in Romania via two legal entities, Max Bet SRL and Max Bet Jocuri Electronice SRL ended 2014 with RON326 million revenue and RON81 million net profit, according to Finance Ministry data.
Next in last year’s ranking were Public Games, Serious Bet and Victory Games. Except for Intertop SRL, all the top 10 companies posted significant profits. Public Games is the largest company in its industry by number of employees, 1,700 and operates the PublicBet network.
A look at the top ten ranking in the last few years shows a changing landscape. The largest company in this business besides Loteria Romania (the state-run lottery company) was Casino Entertainment Center in 2012.
A survey by audit and tax advisory firm PwC Romania shows the gambling market in Romania amounted to EUR657 million in 2012, an increase of 2% on 2011 and the number of employees in the industry stood at 24,500.
“It’s a specific business, one needs to understand what gamblers want,” says Dan Ghita, chairman of Rombet. The local market is completely different from the market in Las Vegas, for instance.
“It’s a profitable business if you know how to do it.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)