Bucharest Casino Gets Go-Ahead, Adds Automated Poker to Game Room

Amid a troubled local economy and vague Romanian gambling laws, at least one land-based casino is set to introduce poker tables – and is expecting a windfall. 

Though G Poker Club Casino opened in Bucharest in early July, the land-based casino had to await certain legal provisions before getting the go-ahead to install eight automated tables in the facility. G Poker Club already boasts 50 slot machines and roulette tables, but has recently introduced its tournament and cash-game schedules to welcome poker players. 

Supplier of the tables was North Carolina-based PokerTek, a company with designs on expansion throughout Europe. The sale to G Poker Club Casino represents PokerTek’s first such deal in Romania. 

On the online gambling side of things in Romania, the country still awaits a summary judgment from the European Commission on its recently proposed draft law. The EC has promised an official reaction by October 4, though most observers believe that the bill in its current form does not meet with European Union requirements. 

After years of quite regressive gambling law in Romania, the government is currently rushing on taxation-and-regulation legislation for some much-need cashflow into the government. Estimates put the figure spent at Internet sportsbooks and online casinos in Romania by citizens at €500 million annually.