Moldova orders blocking of newly listed gambling sources

Moldova’s National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ARCOM) requested immediate blocking of newly listed gambling sources under Law No. 291/2016 on 5 August 2026.

The Public Services Agency added web pages, platforms and applications to Moldova’s prohibited gambling list. The measure applies to sources through which users access gambling that has not been authorised under the applicable framework.

The notice does not cover all online gambling or all foreign operators. It concerns the specific pages, platforms and applications added to the prohibited list, with access restricted for users in Moldova.

ARCOM bases the request on Article 501 of Law No. 291/2016, Moldova’s law on the organisation and conduct of gambling. The agency also cites Administrative Board Decision No. 1 of 21 January 2021, which provides for blocking web pages used to access gambling that has not been authorised in the prescribed manner.

The legal sequence separates list-making from access restriction. The Public Services Agency supplemented the list under Law No. 291/2016, while ARCOM directed public electronic communications providers to ensure that users in Moldova could no longer reach the listed sources.

The request targets providers of publicly available electronic communications services. Its wording requires immediate blocking, so affected providers must identify the listed sources and apply the requested access restrictions within their network operations.

The notice does not identify the individual domains, platforms or applications in the supplied text. It also provides no further technical timetable, separate reporting channel or stated deadline for provider confirmation.

For gambling operators, the immediate review point is source-level availability in Moldova. Operators whose pages or applications appear on the supplemented list would face an access restriction for Moldovan users, while the notice does not establish that other services are included.

The relevant control is whether access points are included in the prohibited list and whether the requested blocking has been implemented, rather than whether an operator is foreign-owned or offers online gambling generally.

ARCOM’s notice provides no named stakeholder quotation or industry-body response. The next practical step is implementation of the immediate blocking request by the communications providers covered by the notice; the document does not specify a later supervisory publication or additional timetable.