Romania’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday cleared a government emergency decree issued in 2009 that raised taxes on gambling and the minimal value of share capital required for a gambling license. The Court was called to rule on an exception of unconstitutionality raised during a trial by the Romanian Gambling Association.

The decree, adopted on June 24, 2009, sets the license fee for casinos at RON 400,000 (EUR 94,000) and raises the annual tax for each table in the casino to from RON 200,000 (EUR 47,000) to RON 250,000 (EUR 58,000) in Bucharest and from RON 100,000 (EUR 23,000) to RON 120,000 (EUR 28,000) in the rest of the country.

The decree also set an annual tax of RON 8,000 (EUR 1,800) for each slot-machine type device and a license fee of RON 25,000 (EUR 5,800) for slot-machine games.

The decree also sets a tax of RON 30,000 (EUR 7,000) for each gambling hall hosting bingo games.

Mediafax