Romanian Lottery Contract Investigated by Anti-Corruption Prosecutors

The contract between the Romanian Lottery and Novomatic is under investigation after the latter rejected to fulfill the payment of the EUR 75 million guaranteed revenue.

The Romanian Lottery did not receive its guaranteed income provided in the contract with Novomatic. Under their agreement, the Romanian Lottery (Loteria Romana) was “granted a proportionate minimum revenue guarantee in the amount of EUR 75 million.” However, in the contract there were some specified terms that weren’t met by the Romanian National Lottery.

The details of deal between the Romanian Lottery and Novomatic

In 2013, Loteria Romana selected Novomatic to “to supply 10,000 […] Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) and the relevant Video Lottery System […] nationwide at locations provided by Loteria Romana.” The partnership was signed for 15 years and the machines would have been distributed to more than 2,000 shops. After signing the deal, Novomatic established a company in Romania to manage the venture from the country’s territory. The system was scheduled to go live on December 1, 2013.

According to Romanian gambling news, the state installed only 5,000 video slots instead of the specified 10,000. Novomatic is referring to this omission as the reason for denying the €75 million guaranteed revenue. Now, the case is under investigation by the Ministry of Finance in Romania and by prosecutors. The national authorities classified the contract as an “Unlucky Contract” and its details and terms are being examined.

The Romanian Lottery expected a profitable partnership

Back in 2013, when the state Lottery of Romania choose Novomatic for the venture, Adrian Manolache the CEO of Loteria Romana was really positive about the partnership. “Loteria Romana will not need to contribute any additional investments to this partnership and we cooperate with a very experienced international partner in this sector,” he commented. Novomatic’s solutions provided an audit system that enabled “to verify in particular the Video Lottery System and the win determination at any time in a transparent and substantiated way.”
Novomatic is present on the Romanian market since 1990. In the Romanian sportsbetting sector they’re represented by Intertop and by Novo Invest for gaming equipment. The deal with the Romanian National Lottery was an important step for the company in their expansion on the Video Lottery Terminal business. Valentin-Adrian Georgescu, President of Novomatic Romania remains silent about the current situation. “I can not answer any questions. The best thing would be to ask the Lottery. If they do not want to answer, it means that the more I should not answer.”