Land-based gaming reforms debated in Italy
A public hearing has taken feedback on the Customs and Monopoly Agency’s proposes changes to retail gaming regulations in Italy.
Italy.- Gaming operators and associations have responded to proposed reforms to land-based gaming in Italy put forward by the Customs and Monopoly Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli – ADM).
Proposed reforms include introducing separate gaming rooms in bars for slot machines and a change in the designation of class horse racing and sports betting agencies, VLT halls and bingo halls as gaming halls.
Bars and tobacconists would be allowed to offer games for “immediate consumption” – scratch cards and Totocalcio football pools.
ADM director Marcello Minenna said: “The logic is to allow for a clearer separation of activities. The feeling we got from non-sector associations is to avoid creating confusion between gaming spaces and other activities.
“It’s about finding the right balance. In a very small bar with two appliances it is difficult to distinguish the spaces and this can lead to confusion and a bad image of gaming. Clarifying these contexts well can help overcome the negative image of the sector.”
Tobacconists and to similar businesses equipped with special separate rooms, would be allowed to collect on bets, totalizator, fixed-odds numerical games, lotteries and AWPs.
Response from the Italian gaming industry
Gaming operators and associations responded to the proposed reforms at an open hearing on Monday.
The vice-president of Agisco, Maurizio Ughi , said that one problem for the sector was that many top-up points of sale accept bets and not just PVRs. Stefano Sbordoni (Utis) proposed the idea of a “receiver’s license “.
Paolo Gioacchini, vice president of the Italian land-based gaming association As.tro, said reforms should focus on differentiating the licensed gaming sector.
He said: “Like so many gaming operators, our association at this moment feels the need for an overall reform of the public gaming system.
“The forced closures due to the pandemic have made the effects that certain local authority regulations can cause even more evident: re-emergence of the illegality that, through so many sacrifices by the Agency, concessionaires and managers, had been strongly contained, and the real risk that many companies fail to reopen with the harm that causes to employment.
“All this in a context of general uncertainty that precludes any investment and planning that only a reform law can resolve.”
As.tro was founded in 2007 to represent equipment operators but has expanded its representation to the entire gaming market including betting gaming halls and online gaming.
Gioacchini said reform should focus on the fight against illegal gaming, customer protection including mandatory training for staff, and sustainable and predictable taxation that allows operators to plan investment “without being hostage to continuous corrections dictated by opportunistic cash needs”.
He also called for the institutionalisation of a concerted administration system that provides for the involvement of trade associations in the work that precedes the adoption of major administrative decisions affecting the sector.
Meanwhile, Salvatore Barbieri of Ascob argued that the reforms do not adequately consider bingo halls. He said: “We are still discussing the management of tobacco and betting in bingo halls, but there is also another important issue, which concerns the provincial and regional quota.
“We are talking about margins, and one cannot but consider that the more machines that are around, the less margin remains for each of us.”
Opening in sight for Italian gaming sector
Gaming venues in Italy finally have an end to Covid-19 restrictions in sight. While online gaming revenue in Italy has rocketed, land-based gaming venues have been closed for more than a year, leading the Italian gaming sector to protest against ongoing Covid-19 countermeasures.
A date for reopening has been set for July 1. However, venues in some regions will be able to open earlier.
In so-called “White Zones” – areas with less than 50 Covid-19 infections per 100,000 inhabitants for three consecutive weeks, all business activities, including gaming are set to resume. The first White Zones are Friuli Venezia Giulia, Molise and Sardinia.
See also: Fate of Italy’s Casino di Campione remains pending
Claudio Durigon, undersecretary with responsibility for games at Italy’s Ministry of Economy told Agipronews: “I believe that for the sector, [an earlier opening] is a fundamental step forward in view of scheduled sporting events, in particular the European football championships.”
Meanwhile, Italian betting concessions are due to expire on June 30. The Ministry of Economy is expected to introduce a transitional solution.
Durigon said: “The time is ripe for a comprehensive reform of the rules governing gaming to provide a firm contrast to illegal gambling, a rationalisation of legislation and a guarantee of homogeneous rules for the entire sector.
“These are our guidelines for an intervention that gives new impetus to the sector. We are already working to make it happen.”
