Romanian Lottery Investigated for Fraud

Romanian prosecutors are to start hearing testimony from the heads and employees of country's national lottery, CNLR, over illegal slot-machine gambling that is believed to have cost the state budget more than 100 million euros.

Between 2006 and 2014, CNLR ran gambling operations without a licence by using 6,263 slot machines partly supplied by Lotrom SA, a subsidiary of Greek firm Intralot, according to the prosecutors from the Court of Appeals.

CNLR authorised the slot machines for video-lottery services, for which a different taxation rate applies.

The Romanian lottery's accounts were blocked last week following the launch of the investigation.

CNLR is the market leader for slot machines in Romania, with 1,109 outlets, more than 100 of which are in Bucharest.

The company had revenues of 191 million euro and a gross profit of some 28 million euro last year.

Romania is still considered one of the most corrupt states in the European Union, which it joined in 2007. The Balkan country has drawn repeated criticism from the European Commission for its failure to tackle the problem.

However, the number of high-ranking officials sentenced for graft has increased significantly lately.

Bucharest is hoping that the signs of progress noted by the European Commission will assist its bid to join the EU's borderless Schengen zone.