gambling in romania

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Novamedia European Gaming & Lottery Files Novamedia European Gaming & Lottery Files Author: Rob van der Gaast

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Novamedia Gaming & Lottery Files Contents Novamedia Gaming & Lottery Files Author: Rob van der Gaast

GENERAL INFORMATION

The jurisdiction 3

KEY FIGURES

Population 6

Age structure 6

Currency 6

GDP 6Telecom 6

Internet 7

Telephones 8

LEGISLATION

Legislation 9

OPERATORS

4.1 Compania Nationala 11

1 History 11

2 Financials first five months 2003 14

3 Financial information 1998-2002 14 4 Products in 2002 14

5 Good causes 15

4.2 Casinos 15

1 Internet Casino operator Danube Casino 15

2

3

1

4



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General information1

The Republic Romania, located in the

Southeastern part of Europe with access to

the Black Sea, has borders in the North with

the Ukraine (and clockwise), Moldova in the

East, Bulgaria (where the famous Danube

river is the frontier) is in the South and in

the East are the Serbia and Montenegro and

Hungary. The 1989’s scenes, in the Capital

Bucharest of the brutal dictator Nicolae

Ceausescu, which no one will ever forget,lead to the overthrow of the last communist

stronghold. The process of political trans-

formation of Romania from a communist

society to a competitive democratic will still

take quite a few years. The transition

towards a market economy is not an easy

road. Especially when you plan an economy

based on the IT Industry.

Now Romania has the eighth largest ITmarket in Eastern Europe. In 2002, IT

spending reached $460 million, composed

of computer hardware (62 percent), pack-

aged software (14 percent), and computer

services (24 percent) according to the

International Data Corporation. Hardware

represents a larger portion of the markets in

less IT-penetrated developing countries.

Market growth will average 10 percent a

year with software and services growing

faster than hardware sales.

The IT sector is one of the most dynamic

components of Romanian economy, and

one that is receiving priority attention from

the government. Over the last ten years, the

sector has experienced impressive develop-

ment, offering Romania the latest technolo-

gies in many areas. The most important IT

user is the government, which makes up

about one-third of GDP. It is implementing

some of the largest IT projects in the coun-

try, including integrated systems for tax

collection and National House of Health

Insurance and various e-government and e-

commerce projects. In 2001, the govern-

ment also launched a five-year, multi-

million dollar project to supply 2,500schools with computer labs and Internet

access, which will generate a surge in the PC

market. Imports from major U.S. suppliers

make up about 55 percent of Romania’s

computer market.

Internet penetration in Romania is small,

but is growing fast. There are about 200

ISPs, most of which are resellers of services

provided by ten major “wholesalers.” Good

computer literacy and English language

skills, a widespread cable TV network, and

decent penetration of mobile telephony are

factors that will support increased Internet

access. On the other hand, Internet develop-

ment is hindered by an insufficient installed

base of PC’s (only about 1 million), the

limited use of credit cards (only about 3

million in use in 2002), inadequate banking

infrastructure to clear payments made via

the Internet, and a poor level of online

banking services. Only about 2 percent of



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Romanian Internet users have bought

anything online.

Projects for upgrading the communications

infrastructure to allow greater Internet

penetration are strongly encouraged by the

government, which has also issued special

regulations to implement a series of e-

government projects and to place greater

emphasis on e-commerce. Growth is alsolinked to the full deregulation of the tel-

ecommunications market, which could

promote Voice over Internet Protocol

(VoIP) services over the long run.

Regarding e-commerce, Romania has a high

incidence of Internet credit card fraud, which

has discouraged international vendors from

making payments electronically to purchas-

ers in the country. To counter this, thegovernment has passed an e-commerce law

that defines and punishes cyber crime. The

law includes criminal sanctions for falsifying

cyber-pay instruments, carrying out and

accepting fraudulent financial transactions,

or performing unlicensed cyber transactions.

Banc Post, one of Romanian main banks,

has introduced a new online banking

solution, which allows clients to transfer

money between accounts that they hold

with the bank.

Romania’s first multimedia messaging

service is offered by Orange Romania. With

the Nokia MMS solution, Orange Romania

customers can use MMS-capable phones to

exchange rich multimedia messages con-

taining text, images, graphics, voice, and

audio clips. The Nokia Multimedia Terminal

Gateway allows users of non-MMS phones

to also enjoy MMS service.

Romania, a ‘fresh’ NATO-member, is

looking for the accession to the European

Union (2007?). A privatization program,

imposed by the IMF, is on its way. There-

fore RomTelecom, the monopolistic na-

tional telecom, will be privatized.

Foreign direct investment knows many

incentives. Industrial- and technology-parks

in Romania have been promoted throughgovernment ordinance no.65, approved by

Law no.490 in July 2002. An industrial or

technology park benefits from significant

incentives:

- 5 year tax exemption for park operators

on profit reinvested in infrastructure

improvements.

- 5 year non-reimbursable (provided

certain conditions are met) Government

grants available for up to a maximum of 25% of the infrastructure costs.

- Exemption from customs duty and VAT

on imports of machinery and equipment,

vehicles, agricultural tools or any other

materials required for the establishment

of commercial operations.

- Exemption from customs duty and VAT

on imports of raw materials, spare parts

and components used for the construc-

tion, maintenance and repair of equip-

ment required for commercial opera-

tions.

- Independent tax advice should be sought

prior to investment to comply with

current legislation.

Inflation rate in 2002 was 17.8% and the

unemployment rate was 8.2.

Here should be mentioned, writing on the

gaming industry, that the Rummycup Tile

game is coming from Romania. In a period



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that card games were forbidden in Roma-

nia, Mr. Hertzano, in the 1940’s, came up

with an original idea -to exchange the cards

with tiles.

After the World War II the Hertzano family

immigrated to Israel. Today Rummikub(r)

is the third best-selling game in the world

and the first best-selling tile number game.

It is also Israel’s #1 export game! 30 millionRummikub(r) games are sold to date in 48

countries across 4 continents, printed in 24

languages.



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Key figures2

4.Population*: 22,317,730 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 17.4% (male 1,992,505; female 1,898,122)

15-64 years: 68.8% (male 7,618,801; female 7,726,300)

65 years and over: 13.8% (male 1,274,881; female 1,807,121) (2002 est.)

(* Source: CIA)

Currency: Leu (ROL)

1 Euro (EUR) = 36,714.0 Romanian Leu (ROL)

1 Romanian Leu = 0.00002724 Euro

1 Romanian Leu (ROL) = 0.00002973 US Dollar (USD)1 US Dollar = 33,633.0 Romanian Leu

(Wednesday, June 25, 2003)

GDP: purchasing power parity - $152.7 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.8% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,800 (2001 est.)

Telecom: Romania is the second largest telecommunications market in Central and

Eastern Europe and offers significant growth potential in the fixed, mobile

and Internet sectors in the medium to long term as a competitive market becomes established. The telecom market has progressed significantly

since 2001, closing gaps in the EU accession and establishing a new

independent regulatory body in September 2002.

Liberalisation

Since the market was fully liberalized at the beginning of 2003, some 670

providers have registered with the regulatory authority (ANRC) to offer a

range of telecommunications services. However, very few of these compa-

nies have valid business plans and can actually be expected to enter the

market. The head of parliament’s IT commission foresees no more than 10

real players operating in the market in the future. Aside from incumbent

RomTelecom and the country’s existing mobile operators, these are likely

to include larger players, such as cable operator Atlas, the telecom arm of

the state electricity utility, Transelectrica (which will benefit from its own

fiber-optic network), and ISPs such as pan-regional Euroweb.

RomTelecom, which is owned by the Greek company OTE (54%) and the

Romanian government (46%), has failed to cement its position as a

monopoly provider prior to liberalization. Not only has it done little to

entrench its interests, there is still a considerable amount of potential

pent-up demand for all types of telecom services. Fixed-line penetration of

18 percent is one of the lowest in Europe, particularly in rural communi-

ties.



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Key figures2

Challenges

A significant obstacle to market growth, particularly for the rollout of

high-speed asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services, will be

RomTelecom’s ownership of the local loop (the Alast mile@ providing

access to end customers). New providers will either need to use Rom-

Telecom’s network or an alternative network, such as cable. The ANRC

has been holding a series of discussions with RomTelecom recently on

interconnection tariffs, and has designated work groups to assist in the

formation of a new regulatory framework. ANRC has no experience in a

liberalized market and even the most well-intentioned regulator can only do so much without previous practice or precedents.

Internet: Internet penetration in Romania is currently small, but the growth rate

of the sector is significant (50 percent/year). There are about 200 ISPs,

most of which are resellers of services provided by about ten larger ISPs.

Computer literacy, good English language skills of the population, the

existence of a widespread cable TV network, and reasonably high pen-

etration of mobile telephones as a basis for mobile Internet, are factors

that will support increased Internet access. Factors negatively impacting

Internet development include a low rate of PC penetration, the limiteduse of credit cards, and the lack of necessary banking infrastructure to

clear payments made via the Internet. Projects for upgrading all types of

infrastructure to allow greater Internet penetration are strongly encour-

aged by the government. The implementation of a series of e-govern-

ment projects as well as greater emphasis on e-commerce, for which the

government has issued special regulations, are expected to lead to a fast

increase in Internet penetration. Growth of the sector will also be closely

linked to full liberalization of the telecom sector, which will allow cur-

rent subscribers to wired telephony to opt for VoIP services.

By the end of 2002 some 13% of the Romanian population used the

Internet and 6% were frequent users, accessing the net at least once per

week, according to a recent study undertaken by the market research

company GfK.

While 53% of the population had heard about Internet but never access-

ed the Internet, an amazing 33% Romanians say they have never heard

about it.

As regards the activities of Romanian users online, the Gfk study found

that 49 per cent use the net for e-mail, 46 per cent use chat services, 37

per cent search the internet for information about specific events, 26 per

cent read news, 21 per cent search for jobs on the internet and 18 per

cent use the network to interact with the authorities.

Most Romanian users access the Internet in public places and very few



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Key figures2

have access at academic institutions. The average time spent online is

5.8 hours per week.

(* source: www.osec.doc.gov)

Mobile phones: Mobile telephony has developed dramatically over the last five years.

Mobile penetration, although relatively low, has surpassed fixed-line

penetration reaching 22 percent by the end of 2002. There are four

service providers with a total of more than 5 million subscribers:

Mobifon (GSM 900 MHz), Orange (GSM 900 MHz), Cosmorom (DCS

1800 MHz), and Telemobil (CDMA 450 MHz). Mobifon and Orangeaccount for 95 percent of the mobile market. The most revolutionary

development in this market was the launching, in late 2001, of the

CDMA digital 450 MHz network by Telemobil, an operator supported by

the U.S. firm Qualcomm. Romania was the first country to deploy CDMA

2000 in Europe and the first in the world to build a high-speed mobile

digital 450 MHz network using CDMA technology. The current trend in

the market is to encourage a range of 3G technologies. If the Romanian

government manages to sell the four 3G licenses for which it intends to

organize an international tender, IMT 2000/UMTS may be commer-

cially available by the end of 2004. The licenses are valid for 15 years.Each winner will pay a $35 million fee for the release of radio spectrum,

and payments can be made in tranches.



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Legislation3

The Governmental Ordinance No.159/1999

set up the National Company “Romanian

Lottery” SA. By its setting up, after the

incorporation to the Registry of Companies,

the Independent Administration known as

“National Lottery” was repealed on 25

October 1999.

The Romanian Lottery’s shares are owned

fully and exclusively by the State of Roma-nia.

Chronological following order of the gam-

bling legislation:

- Regulations from 25/08/1992 on the

organizing and functioning of the Com-

mission for coordination, approval and

certification of the gambling games;

- Governmental Decision (GD) no. 181/

1992, on the definition of the gamblinggames, and the establishing of the

infringements to the practicing of these

games in Romania;

- GD no. 764/1992 changing the GD no.

181/92 on the definition of the gambling

games and the establishing of the in-

fringements to the practicing these

games in Romania, and of the GD no.

486/1992 for the approval of the Regula-

tions on the organizing and functioning

of the Commission for coordination,

approval and certification of the gam-

bling games and some changes to the GD

no. 181/1992;

- TR no. 613/1993 (Finance Minister) on

the organizing and functioning of the

gambling activities;

- Regulations from 18/04/1997 Frame-

work on the authorizing, organizing and

exploiting of the gambling games, as well

as the updating of the corresponding

license tax;

- GD no. 64/1997 for the changing of the

GD no. 181/1992 on the definition of the

gambling games and the establishing of

the infringements to the conditions of

practicing these games in Romania;

- GD no. 130/1997 for the approval of the

Framework on the authoring, organizing

and exploiting of the gambling games, as

well as the updating of the correspond-

ing license tax;- Order (GEO) no. 69/1998 on the au-

thorization of the gambling activities;

- GD no. 219/1998 on the changing of the

Annex 2 of the Framework on the au-

thorizing, organizing and exploiting of

the gambling games, as well as the

updating of the corresponding license

tax, approved by the GD no. 130/1997;

- Statute from 21/10/1999 of the “Loteria

Româna?” - S.A. National Company;- GEO no. 159/1999 on the set up of the

“Loteria Româna?” - S.A. National

Company;

- Law no. 166/1999 for the approval of the

GEO no. 69/1998 on the authorization of

the gambling activities;

- GD no. 251/1999 on the conditions for

authorizing, organizing and exploiting of

the gambling games;

- TR from 30/06/2000 (Industry and

Trade Minister) for the checking of the

games devices General conditions -

N.T.V.-01-2000;

- Governmental Order (GO) no. 36/2000

for the changing and completion of the

GEO no. 69/1998 on the authorization of

the gambling activities;

- Order no. 184/2000 (Industry and Trade

Minister) for the approval of the Techni-

cal Rule (TR) for checking the games

devices - General conditions - N.T.V.-01-

2000;



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Legislation3

- Law no. 288/2001 for the approval of the

GEO no. 159/1999 on the set up of the

“Loteria Româna?” - S.A. National

Company;

- GD no. 348/2002 for the changing of the

GD no. 251/1999 on the condition of

authorizing, organizing and exploiting of

the gambling games;

- Law no. 391/2002 on the approval of the

GO no. 36/2000 for the changing andcompletion of the GEO no. 69/1998 on

the authorization of the gambling activi-

ties;

- Order (GEO) no. 69/1998 on the au-

thorization of the gambling activities,

changed and completed by the GO no.

36/2000;

- (GD), no. 205/2003, on the exception of

non-constitutionality of some stipula-

tions from the Governmental Emer-gency.



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Operators4

4.1 Compania Nationala Loteria

Romana S.A. (www.loto.ro)

4.1.1 History

1999

In 1999 by an Emergency Government

Ordinance No. 159 Compania Nationala

Loteria Romana S.A (CNLR) was estab-

lished, replacing the communist-era Loteria

Nationala.

At the beginning of September of that same

year a new gaming product was launched,

under the name “ORA UNU A VENIT” (One

o’clock is here). This new product actually

binds three concepts: the instant lottery, the

simple ticket draw and the game involving

directly the player in the draw, by means of

a TV show.

Each ticket represents a multiple gainingchance: either instantly, within the instant

component of the game, or by winning the

right to participate in thedraws, taking thus

part in all the draws organized for a specific

issue.

The draws were hosted by a family show,

taking place each Sunday and produced

together with the TV chain TELE 7 ABC. The

simple draws offer money prizes, of 10 or 20

million leu. In the draws involving the view-

ers, the owner of the ticket is called by tel-

ephone, then she or he picks a number

between 1 and 16 on a video-wall. Each

number hides a prize: either a car or a money

prize of 10 up to 50 million leu. If the tel-

ephoned person doesn’t pick up the phone or

the player does not answer, the assistance in

the TV studio pick a number for the winner.

The instant tickets were produced by

ROMPAC SRL in sequential issues of 2

million pieces and their sale price was

3,000 leu/piece.

2000

In September the new product “Joker” came

on the deck.

In the last week of December, 2000, the

CNLR said it had signed a $100 million

deal with Greek lottery systems firm andoperator Intralot, listed on the Athens Stock

Exchange since 1999, to develop a nation-

wide network of video-lottery games.

“The $100 million investment will help us

build a modern network of video games

across Romania over the next 10 years,”

CNLR’s spokesman General Manager

Nicolae Cristea told Reuters.

Intralot, a subsidiary of Intracom, added

that the agreement would cover the installa-

tion of an informatics system and terminals,

as well as the organization, operation and

promotion of new games.

Cristea said the network would be opera-

tional within two years. The project would

create 5,000 new jobs, he added.

The total number of video terminals was

expected to reach 15,000. The U.S.-based

company International Game Technology

(IGT) would supply the equipment. Intralot

said the project would be the first national

network of video-lottery games in Eastern

Europe.

2001

The Romanian Government decided in 2001

to proceed with the extension of the existing

on-line lottery network for regulating the

http://www.loto.ro/

http://www.loto.ro/



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Operators4

market in order to reduce the illegal gaming

through CNLR’ s launch of video lottery

games. This project is expected to increase

the revenues for the Romanian State, as well

as, to control and abolish the illegal gaming.

2002

January

The traditional ‘New Year’s Eve’ Lotto 6/49

was successful. The January Lotto 6/49 had‘Special Drawings with main prizes 12

billion ROL and a 3 room-apartment.

February

In February the break-open ticket “Sanse

Ta” was launched. Joker has a new prize of

over 1.2 billion ROL plus a car.

March

In March the special “Spring” drawings forLotto 6/49 was organized. The prizes were

a.o. money, apartments and cars. Loto 5/40

and other games are on an ascending trend.

April

In April “Loto-Prono” weekly magazine

celebrated the no 2,500 issue with a circula-

tion 2,124,000. “Lotozodiac” game was

launched.

May

May brought the biggest prize ever at Loto

6/49: over 27 billion ROL, plus a 3 room-

apartment. “Noroc” break-open ticker was

introduced, offering instant prizes and

supplementary drawings.

June

In June three extraordinary “Pronosport

games (Toto) were organized for the final

round of the 2002 Korea-Japan Worl

Championship Football. Joker hits a new

record: 20 billion ROL plus a 3 room-

apartment.

July

July was the month where a new series of

“Auto” instant tickets took off.

August

In August the last ‘on the beach” Noroc

drawing took place.

September

September is the “Romanian Lottery

month”:

- New series of Loto 6/49 drawings was

organized.

- ew series of the Lozul Castigator was

launched with the principle “all tickets

are winners”.

- The Lottery Ticket “Portugalia 2004 islaunched with special prizes, such as

traveling with the national football team

abroad.

- The Joker celebrates its second birthday.

October

In October CNLR’s receives from the Roma-

nian and Bucharest Chamber of Commerce

and Industry awards the first prize in the

Top-IX.

Famous Nadia Comaneci shoots of the

“Roman Lottery Cross Race” , with over

20,000 participants. And of course a special

lottery was organized around this race.

November

In November the broadcasts of drawings are

relaunched at Romania 1, the channel with

the highest ratings. The “National Lottery

headquarters” move to a new high-tech-like

building. Loto 6/49 is another record



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Operators4

breaker: 31 billion ROL plus a 3 room

apartment.

Following a 13-year agreement with CNLR,

Intralot has undertaken the supply and all

related services for the operation of the

video lottery system, which has been offi-

cially launched in November 2002. The

agreement provides for the installation of

up to 15,000 on-line VLT’s, connected on-line real time with a central system, at

CNLR retail outlets and additional points of

sale that will be established by Lotrom,

Intralot’ s subsidiary in Romania.

Lotrom has also undertaken the develop-

ment of an on-line satellite communications

network based on VSAT, which has been

fully operational since early 2001. The

installation of the VSAT terminals at se-lected agencies was completed in 2002 and

has already reduced substantially CNLR’ s

operating cost.

December

In December it looks likes that “September

is the Romanian Lottery Month”, should be

renamed into: “December is the Romanian

Lottery Month”. Watch this:

- Special “December” Loto 6/49 drawings

are organized;

- The “Miraculoz” lottery ticket is

launched;

- Another two exceptional prizes are

recorded at the last drawing of Loto 6/49

at the end of the year.

- The popularity of “Pronosport” games

keeps on rising;

- “Christman” Joker drawing records a

new sales record.

Already 500 video lottery terminals (VLT’s)

have been installed by Intralot in 2002.

2003

The in total 2,000 video lottery terminals

will be installed in 2003. The games offered

currently are:

• Poker

• Blackjack

• Reels

• Bingo*

• Keno.

The net income of the VLT’s exceeds theanticipated income, thus contributing

significantly to CNLR’s revenues.

The Romanian VLT on-line operational

model has been in the spotlight and has

become a role model for other state lotter-

ies. The launch of VLT’s not only has con-

tributed significantly to CNLR’s revenues,

but at the same time the lottery’s on-line

games (lotto and numbers) have experi-enced an increase of 130%.

It’s worth mentioning that the state run VLT

operation by using an on-line system and

supporting progressive jackpots, has man-

aged to compete successfully the private slot

machines operators in the country.

* Bingo was introduced by CNLR and became a

national mania when also TV companies, started to

broadcast the ‘housewives’ favorite gambling pastime’.

“Antenna 1” was the first channel to understand the

power of Bingo on TV. On December 26, 1999, then the

biggest prize in the history, $1 million, of all Romanian

game shows was won. “Pro TV” was the following

television company, coming with a Bingo TV Show.

“National Television” was the third broadcast operator

trying to eat a piece of the Bingo cake. In collaboration

with Liberty Oradea, “TV Romania 1” got also a

significant market share with its National Bingo

Liberty on Sundays. CNLR countered this competition

with higher money prizes and 3 room apartments. The



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Operators4

gaming market raised continuously, proofing once

again that this industry flourishes in economic good

times and in bad times.

4.1.3 First five months 2003

financials

Compania Nationala Loteria Romana

(CNLR) has recorded a sharp increase in

sales for the first five months of 2003. Sales

totaled $50.1 million, compared to $25.4million in the same period last year, a

remarkable increase of 97.2%. Sales for the

whole year (May 2002 - May 2003) reached

$89.3 million, a year-on-year increase of

58.9% over the period May 2001 - May

2002 ($56.2 million).

4.1.4 Financial Information 1998 -

2002 (million ROL)

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Total Income 868,990 1,234,502 1,438,000 1,748,754 1,989,733

Total expenses 653,452 1,015,415 1,088,000 1,307,355 1,497,389

Gross Profi t 215,538 219,087 350,000 441,399 492,344

Tax on P rof it 84,149 89,451 87,500 110 ,624 88 ,452

Payment out of

net profit 59,125 58,247 118,125 160,513 137,095

Soc ia l capital 7 ,595 106,944 106,944 106,944 106,944

Private capital 200,938 334,862 587,354 595,951 1,250,153

Assets 128,941 262,124 283,951 312,842 856,942

Rate of profitability 33 27 32 33.76 32.88

(gross profit/total costs)%

Rate of profitability 25 18 24 25.24 24.74

(gross profit/total income)

Total expenses 752 822 755 747 753

(per 1,000 leu activity volume)

Average staff 6,287 5,733 5,088 4,362 3,895

Labor product iv ity 139,30 201,70 276.50 371.23 510.84

Products Results (in million ROL)

Sport Break- Instant Magic

forecasting Joker Lotto open ticket lottery Tombola

1998: 37,902.7 - 475,053 56,208 144,828 17 ,894

1999: 49,908.7 - 745,813 54,197 158,444 35 ,039

2000: 51,148.9 77,829 870,308 36,320 208,495 24,642

2001: 68,369.0 206,026 1,000,247 67,394 151,429 6,889

2002: 56,187.0 204,065 1,199,762 177,597 91,647 -

Passive Systems-

Lottery P.M.U. Total

1998: 28,733 7,922 778,112

1999: 25,944 9,086 1,107,407

2000: 7,5941 8,315 1,302,932

2001: 8,088 8,965 1,517,407

2002: 24,274 10,898 1,764,430

4.1.5 Products in 2002

Traditional Games:

- Loto 49- Prono Sport (1x2 toto)

- Super Loto 5/40

- Joker

- Pariuri Hipice (Horse race betting).

Instant Lottery:

- Miraculoz (10,000 Lei);

- Break-open tickets:

- Portugalia (10,000 Lei);

- Lozul Super Loto 6/49 (10,000);

- Lozul Castigator (6,000);

- Noroc (10,000 leu);

- Auto (5,000 leu);

- Sansa Ta (5,000 leu)

New Game:

- Lotozodiac (25,000 leu.)

Others:

- Romanian Lottery Cross Race (10,000

leu).



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Operators4

Its retail network has 1,659 points of sales.

4.1.6 Good causes

Sponsorships are in the following category:

- Sport

- Education-Research

- Culture

- Health

- Religion

- Social-Humanitarian.

4.2 Casinos

Land Based Casinos:

- Astoria Casino

- Blindo Casino

- Casino Bucharest at Hotel Interconti-

nental

- Casino Palace

- Casino Paris

- Casino Partouche - Athenee PalaceHilton

- Casino Senitor

- Grand Casino

- Lido Casino & Lido Hotel

- Marriott Grand Hotel & Casino

- Peles Castle and Casino

- Perla Princess Casino

- Planet Princess Slot Casino

- Plaza Casino Club

- Princess Casino Havana

- Sofin Hotel & Casino.

4.2.1 Internet Casino operator

Danube Casino

(www.danubecasino.com)

Nicolae Sfetcu started some years ago with

its own business on Internet, first as a

freelancer specialized in web design, trans-

lation and Internet marketing and, begin-

ning with last year, he set up his own

company, Multimedia SRL. The internet

maverick and this year’s award winner of

the prestigious ‘Business Initiative Direc-

tions, WQC International Star Award, Gold

Category Paris 2003’ tells his story in how

he started his internet imperium and his

internet casino www.danubecasino.com:

“The beginning of the history of the Danube

Casino can be located long time ago, and it

is quite interesting, I think. When I was a

student, about twenty years ago, I started to

like two games: poker, and bridge. They were very pleasant days those days. During

those years I became one of the best special-

ists in poker and bridge; I have never

considered that poker, as well as bridge, are

games, because in games you need luck, but

for bridge or poker the luck plays a second-

ary role. I can write many books about the

rituals of the nights spent playing these

games, with many spectators behind us and

that ended every time with a party organ-ized by the winner. It was then when I

started not to sleep the nights, and I kept

this habit till our days, even if, for different

reasons.”

“In those years I became one of the first

presidents of a bridge club in Romania, but

after I graduated from college I finished

playing games, too.”

“I specialized in Internet business serv-

ices. So, helped by my previous experience

in Internet marketing, and being advan-

taged by the fact that I know very well the

psychology of the gamblers, I had some

successful marketing campaign for online

casinos and affiliates that want to pro-

mote their own sponsored links through

their websites or advertisements in my

own network. I have to tell you that I

developed, in time, one of the most com-

plex Romanian integrated network of

http://www.danubecasino.com/

http://www.danubecasino.com/



RomaniaOperators

4

Internet resources for advertising and

dissemination of information, named

Teleactivities Network, that includes

thousands of websites, web forums,

directories and links, mailing lists and

newsletters, e-zines, webrings, a.s.o. After

such a marketing campaign, it was one of

my customer that gave me the idea to

imply more directly in the online gam-

bling worlds. I already had my own gambling portal, www.online-casinos.ro. So I

thought of starting my own online casino

Danube Casino. Why this name? Because

all my life I enjoyed the neighborhood of

Danube and its beautiful landscapes. You

can consider this name as an act of fealty

for this river (I dedicated it a whole

section in my website for the county

where I live, Mehedinti”.

The first Romanian online casino was

launched on June 25th, 2003. Danube

Casino has as partner Windows Casino, one

of the top 10 online casinos in the world,

legally licensed and fully insured, certified

by Safe Bet and approved by Electronic

Gaming Commission. Windows Casino is

the winner of numerous international

prizes, including Online Gaming Awards

2002, for: Best Video Poker, Best Blackjack,

Fairest Casino, Best Promotions, Best

Online Casino.

Danube Casino offers over 125 different

games (roulette, blackjack, poker, slots,

video poker, baccarat, craps, etc.), according

to the European and American standards.

The gamblers have the possibility, besides

the regular prizes, to obtain extra prizes,

too, consisting in a trip to Monte Carlo, a

brand new Ferrari, or other promotional

materials.

In order to be able to play online, first, a

deposit in the casino count has to be made.

All transactions are in USD. Payments can

be made either by credit cards, or through

specialized services for the online process-

ing of the money (NETeller, Firepay,

Stormpay, Western Union, etc.).

The gamblers that reach the Danube Casino

site have the possibility to be informed onthe best game ways and strategies, but also

learn the rules of the games by appealing to

the casino games guides. Multimedia SRL

and Windows Casino assure the technical

support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There are specific Romanian laws for

gambling, however none makes special

references to online gambling.

gambling in romania

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