Online Casinos provide economic solution in Romania and Moldova

By Daniel Johnson

As the world continues to be gripped by economic downturn, governments in all corners of the world are looking for ways to make up budget deficits, and it seems that online casinos will provide the financial solution to at least some cash-strapped countries.

The latest governments to turn their attentions to online gaming are Romania and Moldova, as both look to generate more tax revenue from a completely new source, rather than increasing taxes on existing revenue streams.
Romania's Finance Minister, Bogdan Dragoi, said "we are looking into ways to regulate online gambling, and, if we manage to control money [tax] collection, we will authorise them."

Romania's current legal stance when it comes to online gambling is in some sort of no-mans' land. Whilst it is not illegal for Romania citizens to gamble online, it is forbidden for Romanian companies to participate in the online gaming industry – this means that the estimated €500 million a year that Romanian's wager online is being placed in foreign casinos. It is thought that even a small amount of tax levied on players at Romanian licensed online casinos could generate millions for the state treasury as well as adding a welcome boost to the employment market.

The Moldovan Government will have even more legislation to change, as it is also illegal for citizens to gamble online. This means that all of the illicit online gaming that currently occurs is generating revenue in a different country, therefore the Moldovan Government nomy is discussing plans to issue online gaming licenses to Moldovan companies in a bid to secure the much needed tax revenue.