Former Italian regulator’s head slams government

As he was removed from the Agenzia Dogane Monopoli, Italy’s gambling regulator, Giovanni Kessler strongly criticised the government.

Italy.- The Italian government has removed the Agenzia Dogane Monopoli (ADM) head Giovanni Kessler and he strongly criticised them for it. According to the former official, the move “jeopardises impartiality” and accused the authorities of “political cleansing”.

“I was reset by the government as head of the ADM on the basis of a real or alleged party membership,” local media outlet PressGiochi quoted Kessler, who added: “[There was] no evaluation of skills, projects, results. A political cleansing spoils system.”

The Italian government has just signed off on the Lega-5Star ‘Dignity Degree’, which includes new laws that will ban gambling advertising in the country. Starting next January 1st, gambling operators will be subject to the new Law and will have time until June 30th to comply.

According to Paddy Power Betfair CEO, the measure is set to hurt the company’s progress in the country, where it was set to achieve “podium position”: “I guess, as a last resort, if you couldn’t make any of those things happen, then you might choose to exit the market. It’s quite tough in Italy when you can’t advertise to grow,” he said.