RIDDLE, GAMBLING AND COVID 3px

By Av. Prof. Dr. Marius PANTEA 1k5t8

The year that is about to end, was an “once upon a time” story, from the perspective of traditional gambling in our country. It started with a closure of the activity, only to take a short break, and then followed a period that we can very well call “Balkan amateurism”, that will probably last until the end of the year, which we believe will happen on December 6th. 1i5d8

Av. Prof. dr. Marius Pantea

Nowadays, Caragiale is more current than ever. Whether we are talking about politics, istration or gambling, the world knows, has its own point of view and sees everywhere the already famous “world conspiracy”, which is said to have occult purposes, but we are prepared, we will fight like Nenea Iancu.

Since my last article, there have been some situations that we want to briefly present to you. As a result of the calculations that establish the incidence rate per thousand inhabitants, there are some decisions, that have appeared in the local Romanian legislative landscape, that no longer have the patience to declare an individual situation for each locality, but claim that the whole county faces a percentage of over 3/1000, and that’s it, everything closes.

We recommend you to analyze the Decision 72/10.11.2020 of the County Committee for Emergency Situations, which at art. 1 “notes that Constanţa County falls within the cumulative incidence limit of cases over the last 14 days greater than 3/1000 inhabitants“, that leads to the closure of the entire county, even if there are localities that may have very few cases. In relation to this document, the national and local police bodies have started to fine gambling operators who keep an eye on the figures provided by the National Institute of Public Health, for each locality in which they have an agency or a dedicated hall. Because you have to know, lately the traditional gambling operators have specialized in “searching the local authorities websites for the Decisions” that have a direct impact on the activity, identifying the figures per thousand inhabitants communicated, interpreting of legal norms for their implementation, etc.

Another „trick“ is the ping-pong game between the O.N.J.N. and A.N.A.F., regarding the calculation of the fees related to the authorization to operate traditional gambling, for the period March-December a.c. What do we mean by that? As the gambling operators had to submit the declarations for the payment of the above-mentioned tax and wish to request the rescheduling of payments to the state budget, they submitted writings, some to the O.N.J.N. others to the A.N.A.F., asking for some clarification on this issue. The answers received are for the best, respectively, O.N.J.N. communicates that: in of taxes (taxation) those who can provide the answer are the representatives of the tax authorities (ANAF in this case), and those from the Ministry of Finance – as the tax office would say, answer that: for the activity of landbased gambling the ones who have to answer are the ministry colleagues from ONJN. As such, at this point, traditional gambling operators must find the answer to this romanian riddle, based on the opinions of their own ants and lawyers.

And because the article is called “riddles” I will try to address the four meanings of this word adapted to the gambling industry.

First of all, the word riddle has the meaning of puzzle, so I will try to bring up some of these for the next period. What will appear first, the vaccine against COVID 19 or the famous technical standard entitled “Minimum technical conditions for verification“? Why is the reorganization of ONJN wanted?

The second meaning is “word play“, and we will try to propose to the ONJN leadership the possibility of considering the introduction of “conciliators” in the field of gambling. Creating a mechanism for the alternative settlement of gambling disputes arising from contracts concluded between gambling operators and players.

“Enigma” is another meaning of the word. Here are many aspects, among which we mention: when will the implementing rules for the debts payment to the state budget appear? Who will explain to the gambling operators what is the amount of the authorization fee to be paid this year? National Gambling Office (ONJN) or National Agency for Fiscal istration (NAFA)?

And the last meaning is that of “byword”, so I chose a quote that is relevant for the present situation: “Is there any other game of chance more risky than the game of life and death? We are concerned with every game, because we did everything in our power“, Arthur Schopenhauer in “Life, love, death”.

We hoped that the coming year would bring us closer to normalcy, that we would overcome this challenge well and we would be able to survive. I want to thank you for reading the Casino Inside materials published this year and also for the constructive . I wish you GOOD HEALTH!