Italy to get rid of more slot machines

The government of Italy decided to cut 15 percent of the State-run slot machines, and an even bigger portion next year.

Italy.- The Italian government has seemingly decided to cut 15 percent of the number of slot machines that are run by the state this year, as political sources confirmed. The local government has been trying to change the number of slots in the country for quite some time now.

Just in 2017 the gambling business in Italy will experience a 15 percent cut in the number of slots machines, with an additional 30 percent by April 2018. As reported by ANSA.it, the government has been under pressure to decrease the number of slots in operation in order to help lessen gambling addiction problems that have been rising exponentially in the last few years. Even if slots machines bring a considerate amount of money to the State in revenue, the cuts in State-sponsored machines is set to bring the number down to 265.000.

Last month it was revealed that Italy would be renovating its industry as the head of Agenzia delle dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), Italy’s online gaming regulation agency, Daria Petralia, confirmed that they were working towards an online poker share liquidity, and that the agreements would be presented sometime during the second or third quarter of 2017.

According to Italian news outlet Gioconews, Europe should be ready for an Italian regulatory plan by the end of July of this year. The Online Gaming Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic University revealed that the Italian online gaming market has grown exponentially in 2016. Gross gaming revenues (GGR) increased 25 percent year-on-year to US$1.09 million. The Italian gaming market is now the second largest in Europe after the UK, which is considered the global benchmark for the gaming industry. Online and mobile gaming holds the 5.4 percent of the country’s gambling industry.