Romania raises gambling winnings tax to 4%, RON400 plus 20%, and RON11,750 plus 40% from 1 August 2026

Romania has brought in a new three-tier withholding tax on gambling winnings, effective 1 August 2026. For operators and PSPs, the important bit is simple: tax is now taken out before payout, and the brackets have moved up across the board.

1. For winnings up to RON10,000, players now pay a 4% withholding tax, up from 3%. Between RON10,001 and RON66,750, the tax is RON400 plus 20% of the amount above RON10,000.
2. For winnings above RON66,750, the tax becomes RON11,750 plus 40% of the amount exceeding RON66,750. In practice, that is the bracket that matters for larger casino and betting payouts, where settlement math gets less forgiving very quickly.
3. The government says the change is part of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s fiscal reform programme to reduce Romania’s budget deficit and raise public revenue. Romania’s deficit is currently around 7% of gross domestic product, which the source says is above the limits expected under European Commission fiscal rules.
4. The new rules apply across all licensed gambling sectors, including online gambling, land-based casinos, betting shops and lottery products. That makes this a payment-flow issue, not just a tax issue: withholding now affects every licensed payout path in the market.
5. The reform lands while Romania’s gambling regulator remains under scrutiny, with corruption investigations involving senior officials still ongoing. The governing coalition includes the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), but the source says coalition members have taken different positions on gambling regulation.

For high-risk operators, the main operational point is that Romania is tightening both the fiscal squeeze and the payout logic at the same time. If you are processing Romanian winnings, the tax table now sits directly in the cash-out flow, and the state clearly expects the sector to help close a budget gap before anyone gets comfortable.