Plans revealed for overhaul of Italian gambling market
Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance aims to reduce stake limits and to create a central player registry.
Italy.- The Ministry of Economy and Finance has come up with a preliminary reorganisation plan to revamp market safeguards in Italy’s betting market.
It comes as operators continue to wait for a definitive answer from the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) on licence expirations.
The ministry proposes three key objectives: “minimising problem gambling, terminating black market activities and optimising tax incomes from licensed businesses.”
The plan mentions reducing stake and win limits, but does not go into detail on the amounts or what verticals they would apply to.
It also wants to impose a central player registry with which all problem-gambling self-exclusion schemes and licensed operators must integrate. This will offer retail operators new ID verification measures to allow customers to enter gambling venues and will certify individual devices for online play.
The ministry wants the ADM to be granted more power to investigate unlicensed operators alongside the police. It would invite the ADM to propose cross-industry monitoring powers to combat “all forms of illegal gambling, especially those offered via the web by criminals who use IT platforms based outside the country”. The ministry also proposes that gambling tax evasion be treated as a high-level crime.
See also: Illegal gambling in Italy rocketed during pandemic, report suggests
As for land-based gambling operators in Italy, the ministry is in favour of a “territorial reorganisation” to reduce the number of retail gambling venues to controlled areas (betting shops, arcades and bingo halls).
MPs failed to make any gambling reforms in time for the 2022 Budget Law but the ministry says it believes a reform framework could be implemented within months, with legislation introduced through “one-or-two legislative decrees”.
Meanwhile, Italy’s licensed operators require urgent answers on licensing, with the extensions granted by Rome’s courts due to expire this year. Treasury undersecretary Federico Freni has said licences will be extended as needed.
