Thursday, April 9, 2015 : ROMANIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY UNDER INVESTIGATION
Government claims Loteria Romania went into gambling projects without authority of licence.
The Romanian government has triggered an investigation into the affairs of national lottery Loteria Romania, accusing the company of entering the gambling proper business without licence or authority by introducing 6,263 slot machines over the period 2006 to 2014 in collaboration with an Intralot subsidiary, Lotrom SA.
Prosecutors claimed Wednesday that this illegal activity has impacted state budgets to the tune of over Euro 100 million (a preliminary estimate), reports the Reuters news agency.
The officials declined at this stage to provide further details, and Loteria Romania declined to comment on the issue in view of the ongoing investigation.
Sources close to the investigation told Reuters that the enquiry was criminal in nature, and that bank accounts belonging to the two companies involved had been frozen.