Romanian operator has licence revoked after fee row

The licence was revoked after an investigation took place into a number of facets of Goldprest Impex SRL’s operations, including its fee payments.

Romania’s Gambling Supervisory Committee initially believed that Goldprest Impex SRL had not paid the correct amount for its licence fee. The committee stated that the operator had only paid RON97,753 of the RON366,573 fee owed. This was RON268,820 less than is stipulated in Romanian gambling law.

According to Romania’s National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), the full amount – RON366,573 – was paid in two installments on 16 November 2022 and 21 November 2022. However, ANAF said the total amount was reduced to RON97,753 on 24 November 2022, after certain compensations were taken into account.

On 20 March and 22 March 2023, Goldprest Impex SRL submitted a statement which rectified the licence fee difference. It paid RON268,869, more than the RON268,820 initially owed, due to the exchange rate.

Other fees

The committee said that Goldprest Impex SRL declared the correct amount of taxes for Q4 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023. However, a number of rectification statements had been submitted during these quarters in relation to Q4 2021.

The committee said that, in Q4 2021, the operator declared an authorisation fee that totalled at RON46,935 less than the one due.

A rectification statement submitted by the operator on 6 April 2022 stated that it had increased the authorisation fee by the stipulated RON46,935. But this was then followed by another rectification statement issued on 10 November 2022, which declared tax that was, again, RON46,935 less than what was owed.

Six further rectification statements were then submitted – three on 19 January 2023 and three on 20 March 2023 – reducing the authorisation fee for Q4 2021 to varying degrees.

In total, there were seven rectifications, totaling RON444,348.

The committee voted to cancel the submissions, stating that they were “without legal basis”.

If these rectifications had not been cancelled, the RON6,516 overpayment would have been removed and the RON437,832 outstanding debt in regards to the authorisation fee would have remained.

The committee added that a similar situation had taken place in regards to Goldprest Impex SRL’s defect tax, in which two rectification statements were submitted.

Licence revocation

The committee confirmed that Goldprest Impex SRL’s slots operating licence had been cancelled and that the operator must repay the remaining difference on the authorisation fee.

Goldprest Impex SRL can enter a complaint against the decision within 30 days of its publication. The licence termination takes effect immediately.

The committee stated that it expects Goldprest Impex SRL to file an appeal.