ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Stefano Sbordoni, Sbordoni & Partners
• gaming concessionaires (both land-based and online) must obtain a state licence for the operation of public gaming, issued by the ADM in accord- ance with established regulations; • concessionaires are responsible not only for the management of the machines, but also for compli- ance with all tax and safety regulations; • regulations on public gaming must include meas- ures to prevent and combat gambling addiction – in this sense, concessionaires are obliged to inform players about the risks of pathological gambling and to ensure that gaming methods do not stimu- late compulsive behaviour; • network concessionaires are required to “monitor” and “verify” the correct functioning of AWP (new slot) machines and to ensure that the machines comply with the legal requirements set forth by national and EU legislation; and • gaming operators must ensure that all gaming operations are clear and visible to the public, including clear information on the risks of gambling and the odds of winning. Furthermore, additional protections are provided for online players, with particular attention to “misleading advertising practices” and the phenomenon of “prob- lematic gambling”. Law No 158/2012 (the “Balduzzi Decree”) contains the following rules regarding public gaming and betting. • The problem of “pathological gambling” or “gam- bling disorder” is included among the significant public health issues, requiring prevention, treat- ment, and rehabilitation activities to be included in the essential levels of care ( livelli essenziali di assistenza , or LEA). • Operators of gaming halls, places where bets are taken or places where gaming machines with cash prizes are installed are required to display infor- mational materials (in the halls or at the entrance) warning of the risks associated with gambling and indicating support services for those suffering from gambling addiction. • A more restrictive regime is introduced for advertis- ing related to games with cash prizes – for exam- ple:
(a) advertising that aims to “glorify” gambling is prohibited; and (b) advertising must clearly indicate the probability of winning and, in many cases, must contain warnings regarding the risk of addiction. Ministerial Decree No 47/2013 regulates remote bet- ting at fixed odds with direct interaction between play- ers (so-called betting exchange). The “Dignity Decree” banned the advertising of gam- bling activities, except in certain cases (see 9. Adver- tising ). The Legislative Decree No 41/2024 contains “provi- sions regarding the reorganisation of the gaming sec- tor starting from remote gaming” as part of the imple- mentation of the general tax reform under Delegation Law No 111/2023 and aims to reorganise the legisla- tion regarding public games, particularly online gam- ing (see 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes ). 3.2 Definition of Gambling Gambling is defined by Article 721 of the Italian Crimi- nal Code as “those games in which the purpose of profit occurs and the win or loss is entirely or almost entirely random”. Gambling is different from games of skill, which are defined by the Bersani Decree as depending on the skill of the players rather than pure chance (see 3.1 Key Legislation ). 3.3 Definition of Land-Based Gambling “Land-based gambling” or “offline gaming” includes all the following gaming activities carried out on physi- cal sites (casinos, betting shops, etc) considered legal by the Italian legislation: • machines with cash winnings (AWP machines and VLTs) (Article 110 of TULPS); • lotteries (Lotto, SuperEnalotto, etc); • scratch cards; • horse race betting; • sports betting; • bingo; and • casino games.
230 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook