The Italian Communication Authority (Agcom) has issued significant fines to Google and Twitch after the two companies were found to be in breach of rules preventing advertisements for online gambling in progammes targeting Italian audiences.
The legislation was introduced on 5 December last year.
Google Ireland Ltd (YouTube) was fined a total of €2,250,000 while Twitch Interactive Germany GmbH received a fine of €900,000.
The Authority said Google and Twitch were held responsible as “owners of the means of video dissemination published by third parties with whom they had specific commercial partnership contracts”. It is the third time that Google has been in breach of the rules.
According to article 6 of the Digital Services Act, providers of hosting services are not liable for information stored on their services on condition that they do not have actual knowledge of the illegal content or take action to remove or disable it once they become awate.
In both cases, Agcom considered that the platform providers had actual knowledge of the illegal content. The knowledge was inferred from the terms of the commercial partnership between the platforms and the concerned channels editors.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
October 18, 2023
Tonali bet on football, including Milan: He faces a one-year ban
La Gazzetta dello Sport report that Sandro Tonali has confirmed he bet on football matches, including those featuring AC Milan. The midfielder is one of three high profile names involved in the betting scandal, along with Nicolo Fagioli and Nicolo Zaniolo.
Juve’s Fagioli was handed a seven-month ban yesterday, having admitted to placing bets on illegal gambling platforms, but never having gambled on Juventus matches.
La Gazzetta write a lengthy article this morning concerning the outcome of Tonali’s meeting with the public prosecutor yesterday afternoon:
“Sandro Tonali is repentant and has already begun to make his contribution to the investigation into the betting case. He said so yesterday at the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office, in an interrogation that lasted almost three hours, but he had also declared it last Sunday when he was heard for the first time by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Giuseppe Chinè (FIGC prosecutor) met him at a secret location and he told the whole truth. So the former AC Milan player self-reported to the sports justice body and certainly admitted that he had also bet on football-otherwise under what is the Code of Sports Justice there would be no violation-but he would also have confessed to making bets on AC Milan. And here the issue is different and definitely more delicate.“Betting on one’s own team is particularly risky because it could constitute the crime of illicit sports betting. The article of the Code that regulates it, number 30, is clear and speaks of “performing, by any means, acts aimed at altering the course or result of a match or competition.” From what emerges, however, this would not be the case for Tonali. The player now at Newcastle would in fact have bet on Milan winning or at any rate on other results with him absent. In short, his bets would not have in any way affected his performance on the field, so no sports offence. At the moment, the violation charged against Tonali therefore remains within the enclosure of Article 24 of the Code of Sports Justice, the one that punishes players who bet on football (minimum penalty three years), but it is clear that having bet on Milan constitutes an aggravating circumstance.“The midfielder would like to follow the path taken by Fagioli, with a plea bargain in a short time frame (even less than a month), but there are clearly differences. The first is that if the bets on the Rossoneri were confirmed, the initial sanction of the Prosecutor’s Office would necessarily be more than three years. Verisimilarly it could be three and a half or four, a penalty automatically halved with the predeferral plea bargain. Thus, since the boy has already shown cooperation, he could enjoy some mitigating factors like Fagioli. Hypothesizing the final sanction today is difficult, but one can think of 12 months of disqualification on the field and 6 of alternative prescriptions like the Juventus player, given that Tonali has also claimed to be suffering from ludopathy. Certainly it will be crucial that the version of the former Rossoneri player provided to Chinè coincides perfectly with what will emerge from the records of the Turin prosecutor’s office, who seized his phone and tablet Thursday at Coverciano. If something does not match, things would change, and depending on the findings, the penalty could increase even by a lot.“The timeframe for the plea bargain-if there are no surprises-could be quite short, given as well that the Federation has already defined for Fagioli the path of alternative punishments: therapy to defeat ludopathy and a series of meetings decided by the Federation to make these guys examples in a positive way, to show especially young people that gambling can be the ruin of a career and more.”
Nicolò Fagioli banned for seven months over gambling offence
The Juventus midfielder Nicolò Fagioli has been handed a seven-month ban as part of a settlement with the Italian football federation (FIGC) after breaching rules surrounding betting on matches, the governing body said on Tuesday.
Fagioli was banned for 12 months, of which five months were suspended, and fined €12,500 (£10,843). He has also agreed to a treatment programme for gambling problems. The 22-year-old has been placed under investigation by prosecutors in Turin for allegedly betting on illegal websites.
Under FIGC rules, a player found to have bet on matches could have been banned for at least three years but Fagioli has had more lenient treatment after admitting his offence to the authorities.
As part of his punishment, he will have to speak of his experiences in at least 10 sessions with amateur sporting organisations and with groups helping gambling addicts.
Fagioli has made one appearance for Italy but is not in the squad for the current round of international games.
Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo left the national team’s headquarters last week after they were also told they were involved in an investigation by prosecutors.
Tonali’s agent, Beppe Riso, said on Tuesday that his client had a gambling addiction and was sad and in shock at how matters had unfolded. Riso said the 23-year-old was determined to overcome the problem and thanked Newcastle for their support. He said Tonali could feature against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
October 11, 2023
Juventus' Nicolo Fagioli faces illegal betting investigation
Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli is under investigation for alleged illegal betting activities, a prosecutor said on Wednesday, confirming earlier press reports.
La Stampa daily said the 22-year-old is involved in a criminal probe targeting users of illegal online betting platforms, along with other unnamed suspects.
"I confirm the news of the investigation," Turin Chief Prosecutor Enrica Gabetta said in an emailed statement, without elaborating.
The newspaper did not say what kind of betting Fagioli was involved in. Italian football authorities ban players from betting on matches but not from other types of gambling.
The prosecutor's office of the Italian football federation (FIGC) is also looking into Fagioli's case, a source close to the matter said, confirming another part of the La Stampa report.
A player found to have bet on football matches risks being disqualified for at least three years and fined at least €25,000 ($26,517.50) under the FIGC's code of conduct.
Juventus declined to comment on the affair. Attempts to reach Fagioli via social media messages were not immediately successful.
Fagioli has played in six of Juve's eight Serie A matches this season. Last November he made his debut for Italy, coming on as a substitute in a 3-1 away friendly win against Albania.
April 12, 2023
Italy and Spain have banned betting sponsorship – what can the Premier League learn?
After two decades of financial support from the gambling industry, Premier League clubs are preparing to cut off a hand that has so often fed them.
This summer is expected to see a vote passed by the 20 clubs to prohibit betting companies from appearing on the front of shirts once a three-year phasing-out period has concluded in 2026.
Sleeve sponsorships are still expected to be permitted under revised laws but this is the Premier League’s best attempt to appease the UK government before a long-awaited review of gambling laws coming later this month. Compromise, it has concluded, is key.
That means eight of the current 20 top-flight clubs — Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Southampton and West Ham United — must look elsewhere for a primary commercial partner for the 2026-27 season. Aston Villa, too, will join the search after teaming up with online casino BK8 for next term. The length of that new deal, coincidentally, was three years.
Premier League clubs’ commercial teams will now have to diversify in pursuit of their biggest sponsorship deals. The traditional ‘Big Six’ have found other sectors offering vast financial support, but many of the mid-to-lower-end clubs will have to rethink their strategy.
Fulham, for example, have had a betting sponsor for seven of the past 10 seasons, a run that has included five brands. Include Betfair, which became the first betting company to appear on a Premier League club shirt in 2002-03, and they have teamed up with half a dozen. They, though, are only one of 25 Premier League clubs to have had a shirt sponsored by a company from the gambling industry.
There are concerns the visibility of betting brands — and the means for cashing in — will remain in an arrangement that falls short of the blanket ban sought by campaigners. Heavy advertising, it has been made clear, routinely exposes vulnerable people to a harmful and addictive product. But English football is not alone in facing up to commercial restrictions.
In the coming weeks, the long-awaited white paper is expected to outline new restrictions on gambling adverts and the Premier League hopes its proposals will be enough to avert the outright ban that has been forced upon other major European leagues. The EFL, too, hopes it can continue with partnerships that include all three leagues being sponsored by Skybet.
Serie A clubs have not been permitted to carry betting brands since the Italian government tightened laws in 2019. Those in La Liga found the same limitations come their way ahead of the 2021-22 season.
In Belgium, there are protests against change but their government has spoken. Justice minister Vincent Van Quickenborne last month lamented “the tsunami of gambling advertising” when announcing a national crackdown that will see sporting clubs curbed from 2025.
There is nothing close to uniformity across Europe. French clubs remain free to carry the names of betting partners on the front of their shirts. Montpellier (Partouche), Troyes and Strasbourg (both Winamax) have visible backing from the gambling industry this season, and Paris Saint-Germain agreed to make Parions Sport a “premium partner” in a three-year deal struck last summer.
The French FA (FFF), meanwhile, is midway through a five-year deal with Betclic, the French betting group. Kylian Mbappe has taken a stand against that branding, opting out of a photoshoot to promote the company last year.
In the Netherlands, too, its FA (KNVB) has made clear it opposes the proposed ban on gambling advertising slated to come in from January 2025. The KNVB, with the support of clubs, says it goes “too far” by halting revenues estimated to be worth between €40million and €70million (£35m and £61m) a year. AZ Alkmaar, Volendam and Fortuna Sittard all have shirt sponsorships with betting firms.
Disruption to the marketplace is unavoidable but, in retaining reduced advertising opportunities, Premier League clubs know it could have been worse.
Counterparts in Italy and Spain will attest to that.
Serie A has long pushed back against the ban on gambling-related advertising introduced by Giuseppe Conte’s government at the end of 2018. Italy’s top-flight spoke of its “extreme worry” at the measures, highlighting the potential for millions of euros to be lost.
As of December 31, 2018, Serie A clubs had 15 sponsorship deals with betting companies, amounting to two per cent of the league’s total arrangements. Among those were Roma’s reported €15.5million (£13.6m, $17m) deal with Betway for the sponsorship of training kit and Lazio’s front-of-shirt deal with Marathonbet. Torino and Chievo also had back-of-shirt sponsors.
The Italian Football Association (IFF) lobbied for the ban to be suspended once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, arguing clubs had lost out on an estimated €100million in potential commercial revenue, but met resistance from the state.
Serie A has always argued a ban on gambling-related ads would handicap its clubs against others in Europe, particularly in the Premier League, but since 2021, the same restrictions have befallen clubs in Spain.
Alberto Garzon, minister of consumer affairs, wrote to all clubs in October 2020 to say the promotion of gambling firms would be prohibited from the start of the next season. La Liga president Javier Tebas forecast it would cost clubs €90million and the limited timeframe for legislation to come into force ensured eight clubs were left without a sponsor when the 2021-22 campaign began.
Premier League clubs will face neither that hurried search for new partners nor the outright ban that has impacted clubs in Italy and Spain. They are not permitted sleeve sponsors or allowed to show the branding of betting websites on pitchside advertising boards to a domestic audience.
There are loopholes still being exploited, though. The technology used in both Serie A and La Liga allows broadcasters to cater output to individual territories by superimposing advertising on top of pitchside boards. That allows an audience in the Far East, for example, to still see betting ads when watching games in Serie A. Such tech has not yet been introduced by the Premier League.
Italian clubs such as Inter Milan have had to find non-betting sponsors
Italian clubs are also free to team up with betting partners. Juventus have struck agreements with Betera, Parimatch and 10Bet since the gambling ad ban was introduced four years ago and only last month signed up with Khelraja and Ekings, the Asian gambling platforms. Each announcement ended with the disclaimer: “As per Italian law, partnership not performed in Italy”.
Real Madrid are in the same boat. They list Asian firm Kok Sports and African group SportyBet among their regional sponsors, as well as the Spanish-based Codere, which operates across Europe and Latin America.
That inability to strike shirt sponsorship deals with gambling companies, though, has altered the landscape and hastened football’s potentially short-lived relationship with the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector.
Spanish clubs Valencia (fan-token Socios) and Cadiz (Bitci) swapped betting brands for crypto in 2021-22 only to quickly sever ties and find new partners for this season. Atletico Madrid have run into their own problems with crypto platform WhaleFin, the outgoing sleeve sponsor of Chelsea, which cancelled a €40million-per-season deal in February.
Premier League clubs at least have time on their side to fill any void that comes from a gambling shirt sponsorship ban.
The expectation is that this will likely bring a short-term financial hit as the market readjusts to life without the inflated sums offered by betting companies, but, unlike in Italy and Spain, the Premier League’s global appeal will help limit the damage.
“It would be disruptive,” says Dan Haddad, head of commercial strategy at Octagon, a sports, music and entertainment agency. “Broadly what you might see is that it corrects itself a little bit. If this halfway measure happens and they have to do without front-of-shirt, it might be that other entry points, like sleeve sponsorships and ad boards, become more valuable. You might see a drop in front-of-shirt sponsorships, for example, but the sleeve sponsorship might double.”
The mid-to-lower tier of Premier League clubs is traditionally the most fertile ground for gambling-related sponsors. Those deals tend to be valued between £6million and £10million per season, with the betting companies often the ones offering the most.
Everton are sponsored by ‘crypto betting’ company Stake.com
It would be disingenuous to say that income will be lost given there will be brands willing to fill the void, but the disappearance of gambling companies from the marketplace removes what has become an easy and lucrative option.
Has there been too great a dependency? “It was where the largest revenue opportunity was for many Premier League clubs,” argues Haddad. “It would be hindsight to say they became too dependent on it because what was the other option?
“A lot of Premier League clubs just maximised the opportunity while it existed. I don’t think any of those clubs will suffer from being involved with a betting brand. These clubs have just chased revenue as a means of coping with a high cost base.
“It’ll be disruptive in terms of front-of-shirt value. It’s tricky. You look at Nottingham Forest as a club that has held out for a certain value and it’s gone to show this year that it’s not the easiest thing to sell. They weren’t willing to take a hit on their perception of value.”
It is worth retaining context. If a lower-end Premier League club can command £8million a season from a gambling firm in return for carrying their branding on shirts, that might roughly amount to five per cent of an overall £160million turnover. Replace it with a sponsorship deal worth £6million and the losses are negligible even before there is the chance to recoup the shortfall with a sleeve sponsorship.
Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, once said his clubs were “not sniffy” about teaming up with the gambling industry but as recently as last summer could foresee what was coming.
“The clubs will adapt, they always do,” he said. “If the future means having no gambling sponsors on shirts, we’ll find a way of dealing with that.”
The Premier League’s strength can avert financial black holes, but a hit is coming.
May 08, 2019
How the 'Las Vegas of Italy' is kicking its slot machine addiction
At the start of this year, Massimo was standing on a bridge “determined to jump off”. The 45-year-old had been struggling with gambling addiction since 2001.
“I started to play slot machines and video poker after the death of my father and ended up spending €5,000 a day,” says the artisan fence-maker, from the city of Pavia in northern Italy. He was soon in debt to loan sharks and ended up stealing to fund his habit, including from his own mother, before considering suicide.
Now Massimo (not his real name) lives in La Casa del Giovane, a unit that houses 100 patients suffering from addictions. Around half of the cases involve gambling – a symptom of an epidemic that has gripped Pavia for more than a decade.
For centuries the city was best known as “Oxford on Ticino”: it hosts one of the country’s most prestigious universities, founded in 1361, and a beautiful medieval castle. Built about 25 miles south of Milan on the ancient Via Francigena pilgrim route running from France to Rome, its historic centre is currently a candidate to become a Unesco world heritage site.
That reputation changed in 2013 when the city was identified as Italy’s “capital of gambling”, with a video or slot gambling machine for every 104 inhabitants. Although Italians never flocked there to gamble – Pavia is no Vegas or Atlantic City – local media nicknamed it “the Italian Las Vegas”.
“We had realised something new was going on in 2004, when a 14-year-old boy brought in his father, who was showing clear signs of gambling addiction,” recalls Simone Feder, a psychologist heading the facility’s addiction programme. “Soon after, a very bourgeois-looking elderly couple asked for our help: the husband had gambled away all their money.” Since then Feder says he has treated patients of all ages and walks of life.
Pavia was shocked to hit the headlines this way, but not everybody simply accepted the news: a small group of residents self-organised into a grassroots movement called SenzaSlot (“without slot machines”) to fight the addiction. Their efforts are finally bearing fruit.
“One day I went into a bar and I could not hear the noise of the spoon with which I was mixing sugar in my coffee because of the noise of coins being inserted into slot machines,” says the group’s Pietro Pace, a computer scientist. “Inside there were people who were burning their entire salary.”
Many residents blame the city’s problems on the shift it has experienced since the 1970s, when its mechanical goods industry hit troubled times and its population fell from a high of around 87,000 (it is currently 72,000). Now the main sources of employment are the hospital and the university, and Pavia has become a dormitory city for Milan, the industrial powerhouse to its north.
“On a cultural level, there’s not much to do,” says Giulia Cavaliere, an editor and writer who has lived in Pavia all her life. “It’s a wealthy city but the mentality here is rather closed. There’s just one movie theatre. The university is the only thing that is keeping the city alive, ensuring a constant flow of young people.”
SenzaSlot says these factors all came together to make Pavia particularly susceptible to gambling addiction. In the mid-2000s, after the national government removed restrictions, gaming machines began to spread through the city’s bars and cafes. Suddenly residents would stumble upon a gambling opportunity every time they bought a cappuccino.
“The city filled with slots and video poker machines,” recalls Ludovica Cassetta, another SenzaSlot activist. “It took a few years, but it was a constant process. We reached the point where bars looked like they were all about gambling, as if regular costumers didn’t matter any more.”
By 2013 Pavia had 647 slot machines and the highest per capita spending on gambling in Italy: €1,600 a year.
SenzaSlot’s first project was a website to map the few bars and cafes in the city that did not have slot machines. It now also provides gambling-free bars with a window sticker to highlight their lack of machines and runs events to inform residents, especially schoolchildren, about the dangers of gambling.
The group offers legal support to cafe owners who want to remove slot machines from their premises – which is not as straightforward as it might sound. Pubs and cafes don’t directly operate the machines, which are owned and managed by separate companies that give bar owners a share of revenues.
Installing a new slot machine is easy, but removing one can be hard: there is the loss of income (around €500 to €750 a month per machine) and the likelihood that the bar will have to pay a penalty (typically around €8,000 per machine) for breaking a contract.
“If you hold a pair of slot machines in your bar, they bring you €1,000 to €1,500 each month, which allows many to pay the rent,” says Riccardo Bernasconi, owner of Sottovento, a slot-free snack bar. He says many bar owners agree to host the machines because the companies that operate them throw in credit card payment systems free of charge. Bernasconi has vowed never to host gaming machines, because most of his customers are students who he feels are too young to understand the dangers.
By contrast, Matteo Tacchinardi, owner of the century-old Bar Italia, has hosted gaming machines for more than a decade. He considered getting rid of them but says he could not afford the penalty. “I would have to pay €8,000 for every machine, and it’s too much for me,” he says. Nevertheless, upset at the sight of his customers “throwing away their money”, he refuses to change bills into coins if he knows they will be used in the machines.
But the SenzaSlot movement has made inroads, and now has the local authorities on its side. The former mayor of Pavia, Massimo Depaoli, introduced restrictions limiting when the machines can operate to eight hours a day – from 10am to 1pm and 6pm to 11pm – in an effort to reduce use by vulnerable groups such as children and older people.
The city council has also introduced a rule forbidding the opening of any new slot machines within 500 metres of a school, church or retirement community. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t touch the existing slot machines because we have to wait until the end of the contract,” says Depaoli, who stepped down last month. “But Pavia is not a very large city, so it is hard to find places that don’t fall in the restricted areas.”
The municipality has barred slot machines from premises it owns, and offered slot-free bars and cafes longer opening hours on public holidays as an incentive to make the shift.
The policies appear to be having an effect. By the end of last year, the number of gambling machines in Pavia had fallen from 642 to 547, with the per capita spend down 25% to €1,200.
The SenzaSlot activists, meanwhile, welcome the latest moves but say the wider fight is not yet won. “True, our city is trying to limit slots,” says Cassetta, “but the fact is there are plenty of towns nearby that don’t have any anti-slot regulations. People can just go there to gamble.”
“I started to play slot machines and video poker after the death of my father and ended up spending €5,000 a day,” says the artisan fence-maker, from the city of Pavia in northern Italy. He was soon in debt to loan sharks and ended up stealing to fund his habit, including from his own mother, before considering suicide.
Now Massimo (not his real name) lives in La Casa del Giovane, a unit that houses 100 patients suffering from addictions. Around half of the cases involve gambling – a symptom of an epidemic that has gripped Pavia for more than a decade.
For centuries the city was best known as “Oxford on Ticino”: it hosts one of the country’s most prestigious universities, founded in 1361, and a beautiful medieval castle. Built about 25 miles south of Milan on the ancient Via Francigena pilgrim route running from France to Rome, its historic centre is currently a candidate to become a Unesco world heritage site.
That reputation changed in 2013 when the city was identified as Italy’s “capital of gambling”, with a video or slot gambling machine for every 104 inhabitants. Although Italians never flocked there to gamble – Pavia is no Vegas or Atlantic City – local media nicknamed it “the Italian Las Vegas”.
“We had realised something new was going on in 2004, when a 14-year-old boy brought in his father, who was showing clear signs of gambling addiction,” recalls Simone Feder, a psychologist heading the facility’s addiction programme. “Soon after, a very bourgeois-looking elderly couple asked for our help: the husband had gambled away all their money.” Since then Feder says he has treated patients of all ages and walks of life.
Pavia was shocked to hit the headlines this way, but not everybody simply accepted the news: a small group of residents self-organised into a grassroots movement called SenzaSlot (“without slot machines”) to fight the addiction. Their efforts are finally bearing fruit.
“One day I went into a bar and I could not hear the noise of the spoon with which I was mixing sugar in my coffee because of the noise of coins being inserted into slot machines,” says the group’s Pietro Pace, a computer scientist. “Inside there were people who were burning their entire salary.”
Many residents blame the city’s problems on the shift it has experienced since the 1970s, when its mechanical goods industry hit troubled times and its population fell from a high of around 87,000 (it is currently 72,000). Now the main sources of employment are the hospital and the university, and Pavia has become a dormitory city for Milan, the industrial powerhouse to its north.
“On a cultural level, there’s not much to do,” says Giulia Cavaliere, an editor and writer who has lived in Pavia all her life. “It’s a wealthy city but the mentality here is rather closed. There’s just one movie theatre. The university is the only thing that is keeping the city alive, ensuring a constant flow of young people.”
SenzaSlot says these factors all came together to make Pavia particularly susceptible to gambling addiction. In the mid-2000s, after the national government removed restrictions, gaming machines began to spread through the city’s bars and cafes. Suddenly residents would stumble upon a gambling opportunity every time they bought a cappuccino.
“The city filled with slots and video poker machines,” recalls Ludovica Cassetta, another SenzaSlot activist. “It took a few years, but it was a constant process. We reached the point where bars looked like they were all about gambling, as if regular costumers didn’t matter any more.”
By 2013 Pavia had 647 slot machines and the highest per capita spending on gambling in Italy: €1,600 a year.
SenzaSlot’s first project was a website to map the few bars and cafes in the city that did not have slot machines. It now also provides gambling-free bars with a window sticker to highlight their lack of machines and runs events to inform residents, especially schoolchildren, about the dangers of gambling.
The group offers legal support to cafe owners who want to remove slot machines from their premises – which is not as straightforward as it might sound. Pubs and cafes don’t directly operate the machines, which are owned and managed by separate companies that give bar owners a share of revenues.
Installing a new slot machine is easy, but removing one can be hard: there is the loss of income (around €500 to €750 a month per machine) and the likelihood that the bar will have to pay a penalty (typically around €8,000 per machine) for breaking a contract.
“If you hold a pair of slot machines in your bar, they bring you €1,000 to €1,500 each month, which allows many to pay the rent,” says Riccardo Bernasconi, owner of Sottovento, a slot-free snack bar. He says many bar owners agree to host the machines because the companies that operate them throw in credit card payment systems free of charge. Bernasconi has vowed never to host gaming machines, because most of his customers are students who he feels are too young to understand the dangers.
By contrast, Matteo Tacchinardi, owner of the century-old Bar Italia, has hosted gaming machines for more than a decade. He considered getting rid of them but says he could not afford the penalty. “I would have to pay €8,000 for every machine, and it’s too much for me,” he says. Nevertheless, upset at the sight of his customers “throwing away their money”, he refuses to change bills into coins if he knows they will be used in the machines.
But the SenzaSlot movement has made inroads, and now has the local authorities on its side. The former mayor of Pavia, Massimo Depaoli, introduced restrictions limiting when the machines can operate to eight hours a day – from 10am to 1pm and 6pm to 11pm – in an effort to reduce use by vulnerable groups such as children and older people.
The city council has also introduced a rule forbidding the opening of any new slot machines within 500 metres of a school, church or retirement community. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t touch the existing slot machines because we have to wait until the end of the contract,” says Depaoli, who stepped down last month. “But Pavia is not a very large city, so it is hard to find places that don’t fall in the restricted areas.”
The municipality has barred slot machines from premises it owns, and offered slot-free bars and cafes longer opening hours on public holidays as an incentive to make the shift.
The policies appear to be having an effect. By the end of last year, the number of gambling machines in Pavia had fallen from 642 to 547, with the per capita spend down 25% to €1,200.
The SenzaSlot activists, meanwhile, welcome the latest moves but say the wider fight is not yet won. “True, our city is trying to limit slots,” says Cassetta, “but the fact is there are plenty of towns nearby that don’t have any anti-slot regulations. People can just go there to gamble.”
January 11, 2019
Italy sees rise in sports betting revenue in 2018
Italy’s sports betting market witnessed a 10.5 per cent growth in revenue in 2018 compared to that of 2017.
The regulatory body of Italy, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), released the results, reporting that the industry generated €1.4 billion in 2018.
ADM also reports that betting turnover for last year reached the €10.9 billion mark, approximately €1 billion higher than 2017. The land-based sector also increased its revenue by 7 per cent in 2018 to €840 million.
While online betting registered a 16 per cent increase over 2017 to €643 million, it is a shy growth when compared to 2017’s total increase figure of 44.5 per cent, and in a year that did not have major sports tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup.
December’s results did not help the full number for 2018, as sports revenue decreased 55 per cent year-on-year to €96.4 million. Both the land-based and online verticals experienced a decline, the latter to €47 million or a 43 per cent decrease.
The regulatory body of Italy, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), released the results, reporting that the industry generated €1.4 billion in 2018.
ADM also reports that betting turnover for last year reached the €10.9 billion mark, approximately €1 billion higher than 2017. The land-based sector also increased its revenue by 7 per cent in 2018 to €840 million.
While online betting registered a 16 per cent increase over 2017 to €643 million, it is a shy growth when compared to 2017’s total increase figure of 44.5 per cent, and in a year that did not have major sports tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup.
December’s results did not help the full number for 2018, as sports revenue decreased 55 per cent year-on-year to €96.4 million. Both the land-based and online verticals experienced a decline, the latter to €47 million or a 43 per cent decrease.
August 07, 2018
Advertising ban places Italy on the brink of huge problems
Recently the Italian Parliament has approved a new law called “Decreto Dignità,” which has now been passed on to the Senate and will become effective immediately.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
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August 7, 2018
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The steps taken in Italy to introduce a blanket ban on all forms of gambling advertisements have certainly raised a few eyebrows, and formed a crucial part of many a conversation.
Now standing on the bring of introduction, after the reform was approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week and passed on to the Senate, Italian online web gaming guide casino2k details the numerous problems with the Dignity Decree, pitfalls now facing the country and potential solutions.
Recently the Italian Parliament has approved a new law called “Decreto Dignità,” which has now been passed on to the Senate and will become effective immediately.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
We at casino2k.com, an Italian website which provides information about responsible gambling on regulated casinos, have studied the law and followed the three day discussion about “Decreto Dignità” inside the Italian Parliament. Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
“FORBIDDING EVERY TYPE OF ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET WILL RESULT IN ILLEGAL GAMING COMING BACK“
Italy is the biggest gaming industry in Europe with 150,000 employees and hundreds of small companies, like ours, whose business will be affected significantly by the prohibition of every kind of advertising. The Italian government doesn’t seem to care about the future of all the other people working in this market.
The Italian market has been strictly regulated since 2011. Illegal activities have significantly decreased since then, with websites like ours helping drive people out of the illegal market into the regulated one. Forbidding every type of advertising on the internet will result in illegal gaming coming back!
Affiliate websites spread knowledge about online gambling and promote a responsible approach to it, playing an important role in the fight against gambling addiction, under age gambling and illegal operators. Those websites will now probably close, since advertising is not allowed anymore.
The aim of this law is noble, fighting gambling addiction, protecting fragile people from wasting all of their money. The main problem is that this law does almost nothing to fight it. In every Italian bar you can play slot machines and lotteries, and in Italy you can even buy scratch cards in supermarkets.
Blocking every type of advertising does nothing to reduce such things, which are often accessed by teenagers. An advertising ban is just propaganda, people will continue spending €20bn per year on slot games in bars and private mini-casinos (called VLTs), because the law doesn’t reduce the number of slots per town, it doesn’t set a minimum distance from public places, it doesn’t stop scratch cards from being sold in supermarkets. It just blocks advertising. And physical slots in bars don’t need any advertising to earn money and to destroy people’s life.
Starting soon, Italian players will not be able to recognise a legal casino from an illegal one. Right now Google AdWords has stopped accepting regulated operators ads, and unregulated ones have already appeared.
Without online advertising it will be very difficult to recognise legal and reliable sites, while the illegal ones will take advantage and gambling addiction will flourish.
Illegal casinos don’t care about the fun and the health of their users, they don’t care about responsible gaming, they don’t do anything against gambling addiction. Furthermore, they don’t pay taxes because their base is often placed in offshore countries.
The law is almost approved, the time for amendments is over, but we want to suggest a proposal. We hope that it will be considered by mass media, national and international newspapers and, in particular, that it will be evaluated by Parliament for a future law.
An alternative to an online gambling advertising ban could be allowing advertising only on specialised websites, magazines and newspapers, with these restrictions:
1. A license for affiliate websites and website owners with strict and specific requirements chosen by government.
2. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs a legal representative who will be personally responsible for every breaking of rules.
3. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs to pay taxes in Italy.
4. 2% of affiliates income to be used against gambling addiction.
5. Slower games to fight fast bets which lead to deep addiction.
6. Government campaigns to increase culture of responsible gaming.
The Government lacks knowledge of the market, they don’t understand how online gaming can be strictly controlled, players can ban themselves from gaming sites, operators can recognise addiction and block players. Artificial intelligence can also play an important role in preventing addiction and problematic players.
In conclusion, we think Italy needs better rules, because the ban on advertising would produce serious damages and would bring the market back to the early 2000’s. We hope that the government will try to understand how online gaming works, and why it’s safer than slot games in bars.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
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Casino2k – Advertising ban places Italy on the brink of huge problems
August 7, 2018
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The steps taken in Italy to introduce a blanket ban on all forms of gambling advertisements have certainly raised a few eyebrows, and formed a crucial part of many a conversation.
Now standing on the bring of introduction, after the reform was approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week and passed on to the Senate, Italian online web gaming guide casino2k details the numerous problems with the Dignity Decree, pitfalls now facing the country and potential solutions.
Recently the Italian Parliament has approved a new law called “Decreto Dignità,” which has now been passed on to the Senate and will become effective immediately.
This law is composed of 15 articles: one of the most controversial is about gambling advertising. Article 9 of “Decreto Dignità” forbids all media (TV, Internet, Radio) directly and indirectly advertising games in which a player can win money, including casino games, skill games, sports betting, poker, horse racing, lotteries, scratch cards. Italy is the first European country completely forbidding gaming advertising and Luigi Di Maio, the deputy prime minister, expects other European countries to follow Italy’s example.
We at casino2k.com, an Italian website which provides information about responsible gambling on regulated casinos, have studied the law and followed the three day discussion about “Decreto Dignità” inside the Italian Parliament. Currently in Italy no political party or movement is aware of the consequences that this new law will produce.
“FORBIDDING EVERY TYPE OF ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET WILL RESULT IN ILLEGAL GAMING COMING BACK“
Italy is the biggest gaming industry in Europe with 150,000 employees and hundreds of small companies, like ours, whose business will be affected significantly by the prohibition of every kind of advertising. The Italian government doesn’t seem to care about the future of all the other people working in this market.
The Italian market has been strictly regulated since 2011. Illegal activities have significantly decreased since then, with websites like ours helping drive people out of the illegal market into the regulated one. Forbidding every type of advertising on the internet will result in illegal gaming coming back!
Affiliate websites spread knowledge about online gambling and promote a responsible approach to it, playing an important role in the fight against gambling addiction, under age gambling and illegal operators. Those websites will now probably close, since advertising is not allowed anymore.
The aim of this law is noble, fighting gambling addiction, protecting fragile people from wasting all of their money. The main problem is that this law does almost nothing to fight it. In every Italian bar you can play slot machines and lotteries, and in Italy you can even buy scratch cards in supermarkets.
Blocking every type of advertising does nothing to reduce such things, which are often accessed by teenagers. An advertising ban is just propaganda, people will continue spending €20bn per year on slot games in bars and private mini-casinos (called VLTs), because the law doesn’t reduce the number of slots per town, it doesn’t set a minimum distance from public places, it doesn’t stop scratch cards from being sold in supermarkets. It just blocks advertising. And physical slots in bars don’t need any advertising to earn money and to destroy people’s life.
Starting soon, Italian players will not be able to recognise a legal casino from an illegal one. Right now Google AdWords has stopped accepting regulated operators ads, and unregulated ones have already appeared.
Without online advertising it will be very difficult to recognise legal and reliable sites, while the illegal ones will take advantage and gambling addiction will flourish.
Illegal casinos don’t care about the fun and the health of their users, they don’t care about responsible gaming, they don’t do anything against gambling addiction. Furthermore, they don’t pay taxes because their base is often placed in offshore countries.
The law is almost approved, the time for amendments is over, but we want to suggest a proposal. We hope that it will be considered by mass media, national and international newspapers and, in particular, that it will be evaluated by Parliament for a future law.
An alternative to an online gambling advertising ban could be allowing advertising only on specialised websites, magazines and newspapers, with these restrictions:
1. A license for affiliate websites and website owners with strict and specific requirements chosen by government.
2. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs a legal representative who will be personally responsible for every breaking of rules.
3. Every affiliate or affiliate company needs to pay taxes in Italy.
4. 2% of affiliates income to be used against gambling addiction.
5. Slower games to fight fast bets which lead to deep addiction.
6. Government campaigns to increase culture of responsible gaming.
The Government lacks knowledge of the market, they don’t understand how online gaming can be strictly controlled, players can ban themselves from gaming sites, operators can recognise addiction and block players. Artificial intelligence can also play an important role in preventing addiction and problematic players.
In conclusion, we think Italy needs better rules, because the ban on advertising would produce serious damages and would bring the market back to the early 2000’s. We hope that the government will try to understand how online gaming works, and why it’s safer than slot games in bars.
April 12, 2018
Playtech makes a $1.05B play for Italian betting firm Snaitech
Online gambling technology provider Playtech has agreed to buy a 70.6% stake in Italian gambling firm Snaitech, a move that the UK company expects will enhance its “revenue mix towards regulated markets.”
Playtech makes a $1.05B play for Italian betting firm SnaitechThe “initial acquisition” of Snaitech carries a price tag of €846 million ($1.05 billion), Playtech announced in a Thursday filing. The British gambling company is required to make a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining stake in Snaitech after the initial acquisition is completed sometime in the third quarter of 2018. The mandatory takeover offer is aimed at delisting Snaitech from the Milan Stock Exchange, according to Playtech. It expects the entire transaction will be completed before the year ends.
The deal will be funded by Playtech’s existing cash resources, plus new debt, and is expected to deliver cost material annual cost synergies of €10 million.
If the deal manages to clear regulatory and shareholder approvals, it would mean that Playtech will be seeing 78 percent of its revenue from regulated markets. The Snaitech acquisition will allow Playtech to establish “strong presence in Italy, Europe’s largest and growing gaming market, a fragmented market which is relatively underdeveloped online.”
Playtech sees the acquisition as an opportunity to combine “two market leading players in the B2B/B2C space with brand strength and scalable offerings,” giving the British company “incremental organic growth potential and greater strategic optionality.”
Snaitech is licensed by the Italian Monopolies Authority to offer gaming services and products, including sport and horse racing betting; virtual sports; video lottery; online and mobile poker, skill games, casino games, bingo; esports; and pari-mutuel. The SNAI retail betting network has more than 1,600 points of sale located throughout Italy. The group also operates 60,000 “New Slot” as well as more than 10,000 video lotteries across the country.
In 2017, Snaitech generated revenue €890 million and EBITDA of €136 million.
The acquisition deal couldn’t have come at a better time for UK’s Playtech, which has been battling the sweeping regulatory changes at its home market on top of the persisting operational problems in Asia.
Playtech reported a modest 18% net revenue gain in 2017, following Malaysia’s crackdown on gambling in the country. In February, Playtech Chairman Alan Jackson said the company is looking to diversify its revenue base by investing in fast growing regulated and regulating markets in Europe and Latin America.
Playtech makes a $1.05B play for Italian betting firm SnaitechThe “initial acquisition” of Snaitech carries a price tag of €846 million ($1.05 billion), Playtech announced in a Thursday filing. The British gambling company is required to make a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining stake in Snaitech after the initial acquisition is completed sometime in the third quarter of 2018. The mandatory takeover offer is aimed at delisting Snaitech from the Milan Stock Exchange, according to Playtech. It expects the entire transaction will be completed before the year ends.
The deal will be funded by Playtech’s existing cash resources, plus new debt, and is expected to deliver cost material annual cost synergies of €10 million.
If the deal manages to clear regulatory and shareholder approvals, it would mean that Playtech will be seeing 78 percent of its revenue from regulated markets. The Snaitech acquisition will allow Playtech to establish “strong presence in Italy, Europe’s largest and growing gaming market, a fragmented market which is relatively underdeveloped online.”
Playtech sees the acquisition as an opportunity to combine “two market leading players in the B2B/B2C space with brand strength and scalable offerings,” giving the British company “incremental organic growth potential and greater strategic optionality.”
Snaitech is licensed by the Italian Monopolies Authority to offer gaming services and products, including sport and horse racing betting; virtual sports; video lottery; online and mobile poker, skill games, casino games, bingo; esports; and pari-mutuel. The SNAI retail betting network has more than 1,600 points of sale located throughout Italy. The group also operates 60,000 “New Slot” as well as more than 10,000 video lotteries across the country.
In 2017, Snaitech generated revenue €890 million and EBITDA of €136 million.
The acquisition deal couldn’t have come at a better time for UK’s Playtech, which has been battling the sweeping regulatory changes at its home market on top of the persisting operational problems in Asia.
Playtech reported a modest 18% net revenue gain in 2017, following Malaysia’s crackdown on gambling in the country. In February, Playtech Chairman Alan Jackson said the company is looking to diversify its revenue base by investing in fast growing regulated and regulating markets in Europe and Latin America.
November 10, 2016
Sky Betting & Gaming Expands to Italy
Online gambling operator, Sky Betting and Gaming, have put rumors of expansion to rest by making their products available in Italy. The company is based in the UK and mainly offers sports betting. After several rounds of testing, the app, SkyBet.it, has gone live. It will offer betting options in football, basketball and tennis. Players can choose which markets to play in and more options are set to be added soon.
The company’s expansion in Italy comes as no surprise as they had previously bought out Sky Italia in 2014. In the coming weeks, expansion is supposed to grow to new heights as their online casino, Casino.SkyBet.it, is also set to open. The company gained motivation to finally expand after their latest product, Super 6, was a big success in the UK and Italy.
Super 6 allows players to place bets on the scores of 6 specific football matches. The current jackpot for the game stands at £250,000 in the UK. The success of the game has been key to converting punters into real-money betters.
Sky Betting is expected to target Germany next, as they bought out Sky Deutschland, in 2014. Once the expansion in Italy is set in stone and deemed as a success, Sky Betting and Gaming are expected to move to Germany. Super 6 has already been launched in the country at 6erpack.sky.de and has a jackpot of €100,000. Punters that can correctly guess scores of all 6 chosen matches from the Bundesliga, can win the jackpot.
Sky Deutschland currently has 4.5 million subscribers and Jochen Weiner, the managing director, was hired specifically to make an impact on the local German market. According to him, the current market is “healthy” and the large number of subscribers should help them gain momentum.
Sky Betting and Gaming have recorded a 51% increase in revenue compared to the previous fiscal year. Revenue is up to £373.6 million, for the period ended in June 2016. Sports betting, casino games and poker are the companies main offerings.
The company’s expansion in Italy comes as no surprise as they had previously bought out Sky Italia in 2014. In the coming weeks, expansion is supposed to grow to new heights as their online casino, Casino.SkyBet.it, is also set to open. The company gained motivation to finally expand after their latest product, Super 6, was a big success in the UK and Italy.
Super 6 allows players to place bets on the scores of 6 specific football matches. The current jackpot for the game stands at £250,000 in the UK. The success of the game has been key to converting punters into real-money betters.
Sky Betting is expected to target Germany next, as they bought out Sky Deutschland, in 2014. Once the expansion in Italy is set in stone and deemed as a success, Sky Betting and Gaming are expected to move to Germany. Super 6 has already been launched in the country at 6erpack.sky.de and has a jackpot of €100,000. Punters that can correctly guess scores of all 6 chosen matches from the Bundesliga, can win the jackpot.
Sky Deutschland currently has 4.5 million subscribers and Jochen Weiner, the managing director, was hired specifically to make an impact on the local German market. According to him, the current market is “healthy” and the large number of subscribers should help them gain momentum.
Sky Betting and Gaming have recorded a 51% increase in revenue compared to the previous fiscal year. Revenue is up to £373.6 million, for the period ended in June 2016. Sports betting, casino games and poker are the companies main offerings.
March 15, 2016
Italian prosecutor wants top tennis players investigated for match-fixing
An Italian prosecutor has called for more than two dozen top tennis players to be investigated by the Tennis Integrity Unit for possible links to betting rings.
Roberto Di Martino has told the BBC that tennis authorities should be doing more with evidence he has gathered concerning at least two players who have ranked in the world’s top 20.
The Italians Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali are the only professionals to be investigated and charged thus far but Di Martino has called for others to be scrutinised by the TIU.
Speaking to the BBC the Cremona-based prosecutor said: “Surely if these foreign players were Italian, they would certainly have been at least questioned.”
Di Martino claimed that more than 24 non-Italian players had been mentioned by gamblers in recordings of phone calls and internet chat logs acquired through his investigation.
“Interestingly, they are not so-called second-tier tennis players, but also players of some importance,” he said.
Starace and Bracciali have been accused of conspiring to fix matches and are due to appear in court in May. They both deny charges of conspiracy to commit sporting fraud.
Roberto Di Martino has told the BBC that tennis authorities should be doing more with evidence he has gathered concerning at least two players who have ranked in the world’s top 20.
The Italians Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali are the only professionals to be investigated and charged thus far but Di Martino has called for others to be scrutinised by the TIU.
Speaking to the BBC the Cremona-based prosecutor said: “Surely if these foreign players were Italian, they would certainly have been at least questioned.”
Di Martino claimed that more than 24 non-Italian players had been mentioned by gamblers in recordings of phone calls and internet chat logs acquired through his investigation.
“Interestingly, they are not so-called second-tier tennis players, but also players of some importance,” he said.
Starace and Bracciali have been accused of conspiring to fix matches and are due to appear in court in May. They both deny charges of conspiracy to commit sporting fraud.
March 08, 2016
World Match expands presence in Italy with GoldBet
World Match announces that has further increased its market share in Italy having signed a business deal with Goldbet. Under the agreement World Match’s games will go live on Goldbet.it.
World Match GoldBetOn its side, the Italian portal of online gaming enlarges its game offerings that now features as many as 117 casino games, in addition to the Poker platform and the brand new Bingo.
To date World Match boasts all the biggest Italian operators as its customers: a great success resulted from the ability to finalise a game engine that fully satisfies the habits and preferences of the Italian players. All World Match’s games are equipped with captivating in-play animations, hi-quality sound effects and great special features.
Moreover, Goldbet is going to activate the Network Jackpot, a Jackpot that is connected to different online casino operators, offering the same win amount. Hence the players contribute to the increase of the same Jackpot that can be won while playing in any of the partaking casinos.
The wide selection and the configuration flexibility of jackpots is one of World Match’s best selling points. In addition to the Network Jackpot, operators can choose among Fixed Jackpot with a fixed win amount, Progressive Jackpot with an increasing win amount, Fixed + Progressive and more.
Andrea Boratto, World Match, Executive Director, commented: “We are very pleased with our games going live on Goldbet, because it is one of the top IT operators and because this partnership reaffirms the trust in our company and products.”
World Match GoldBetOn its side, the Italian portal of online gaming enlarges its game offerings that now features as many as 117 casino games, in addition to the Poker platform and the brand new Bingo.
To date World Match boasts all the biggest Italian operators as its customers: a great success resulted from the ability to finalise a game engine that fully satisfies the habits and preferences of the Italian players. All World Match’s games are equipped with captivating in-play animations, hi-quality sound effects and great special features.
Moreover, Goldbet is going to activate the Network Jackpot, a Jackpot that is connected to different online casino operators, offering the same win amount. Hence the players contribute to the increase of the same Jackpot that can be won while playing in any of the partaking casinos.
The wide selection and the configuration flexibility of jackpots is one of World Match’s best selling points. In addition to the Network Jackpot, operators can choose among Fixed Jackpot with a fixed win amount, Progressive Jackpot with an increasing win amount, Fixed + Progressive and more.
Andrea Boratto, World Match, Executive Director, commented: “We are very pleased with our games going live on Goldbet, because it is one of the top IT operators and because this partnership reaffirms the trust in our company and products.”
May 11, 2015
SNAI strengthens Italian market position with Cogemat merger
Italian sports betting operator Gruppo SNAI has agreed to a corporate merger with Italian licensed gambling operator Cogemat, which will see the new company valued at + €145 million.
SNAI will incorporate all assets and business subsidiaries of Cogemat, including gambling technology and content provider Cogetech which services 9% of the Italian gambling machines market.
Italian news sources report that SNAI governance had concluded the merger deal with Global OI Games and Games 2 the majority shareholders in the Cogemat business. SNAI are believed to want to strengthen their position within the Italian gambling machines market, and further enhance its digital offering to the Italian market.
Gruppo SNAI released a short corporate statement detailing its intentions for the acquisition of Cogemat enterprises. The operator outlined the following
“The company will look to become the co-leader of the market with a share of over 15%” and will “strengthen the group’s leadership in the segment of horse betting and sports.”
“SNAI will further aim to strengthen its position in the segment of the gaming machines,” a market worth 48 billion euro in 2013”.
The merger deal will see Cogetech shareholders acquire 38% of the new company shares which are to be distributed under Gruppo SNAI terms and deal precedents.
SNAI will incorporate all assets and business subsidiaries of Cogemat, including gambling technology and content provider Cogetech which services 9% of the Italian gambling machines market.
Italian news sources report that SNAI governance had concluded the merger deal with Global OI Games and Games 2 the majority shareholders in the Cogemat business. SNAI are believed to want to strengthen their position within the Italian gambling machines market, and further enhance its digital offering to the Italian market.
Gruppo SNAI released a short corporate statement detailing its intentions for the acquisition of Cogemat enterprises. The operator outlined the following
“The company will look to become the co-leader of the market with a share of over 15%” and will “strengthen the group’s leadership in the segment of horse betting and sports.”
“SNAI will further aim to strengthen its position in the segment of the gaming machines,” a market worth 48 billion euro in 2013”.
The merger deal will see Cogetech shareholders acquire 38% of the new company shares which are to be distributed under Gruppo SNAI terms and deal precedents.
March 11, 2015
Rome police arrest PokerStars.it managing director over €300 million of undeclared monies that were traced to Malta and the Isle of Man
The managing director of PokerStars, a leading online poker brand, has been accused of fraud and tax evasion of some €300 million by Rome’s finance police on Wednesday.
Investigators analysed the real value of transactions linked to Halfords Media Italy, the Italian branch of the group, and tracked down €300 million of undeclared revenues.
Halfords is a wholly-owned member of the Rational Group which offers online poker to players through two of the world’s leading poker brands, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
In Malta, the Rational Group has several subsidiaries with beneficial ownerships also held in the Isle of Man. Rational was taken over by Canadian firm Amaya Gaming for $4.9 billion. Amaya also holds an Isle of Man subsidiary.
According to the finance police, Halfords hid its taxable income by decreasing the worth of services performed for its parent company Pokerstars and, by so doing, managed to move the taxable income produced in Italy to Malta, and then to the Isle of Man to benefit from a more favourable tax status.
PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu operate worldwide under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively.
The tax avoidance scheme is known as transfer pricing, and aims at minimising a company’s tax exposure by moving around revenues and profits to countries with favourable tax systems.
Transfer pricing is one of the most important issues in international tax.
Transfer pricing happens whenever two companies that are part of the same multinational group trade with each other: when a US-based subsidiary of Coca-Cola, for example, buys something from a French-based subsidiary of Coca-Cola. When the parties establish a price for the transaction, this is transfer pricing.
What makes transfer pricing illegal is if the price is manipulated so that costs are brought drastically down so that incur the least amount of tax possible.
Investigators analysed the real value of transactions linked to Halfords Media Italy, the Italian branch of the group, and tracked down €300 million of undeclared revenues.
Halfords is a wholly-owned member of the Rational Group which offers online poker to players through two of the world’s leading poker brands, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
In Malta, the Rational Group has several subsidiaries with beneficial ownerships also held in the Isle of Man. Rational was taken over by Canadian firm Amaya Gaming for $4.9 billion. Amaya also holds an Isle of Man subsidiary.
According to the finance police, Halfords hid its taxable income by decreasing the worth of services performed for its parent company Pokerstars and, by so doing, managed to move the taxable income produced in Italy to Malta, and then to the Isle of Man to benefit from a more favourable tax status.
PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu operate worldwide under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively.
The tax avoidance scheme is known as transfer pricing, and aims at minimising a company’s tax exposure by moving around revenues and profits to countries with favourable tax systems.
Transfer pricing is one of the most important issues in international tax.
Transfer pricing happens whenever two companies that are part of the same multinational group trade with each other: when a US-based subsidiary of Coca-Cola, for example, buys something from a French-based subsidiary of Coca-Cola. When the parties establish a price for the transaction, this is transfer pricing.
What makes transfer pricing illegal is if the price is manipulated so that costs are brought drastically down so that incur the least amount of tax possible.
January 23, 2015
Stanleybet loses EU suit over Italian licenses appeal
Stanley International online betting subsidiary Stanleybet Italia has lost its European Union (EU) lawsuit against Italian authorities regarding the assigned length of gambling licenses.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favour of Italian gambling regulators, dismissing that betting licenses for new market entrants lasting 40 months were not unfair in comparison to established Italian gambling firms that had gained 12 year licenses in the jurisdiction.
Stanleybet had registered its legal actions against Italian gambling authorities on the grounds of unfair business practices and the regulator creating uneven market conditions.
However the ECJ deemed that Italy’s regulator could issue different license expiry dates in order to create a coherent national gambling policy and reduce gambling opportunities.
Stanley International said in a statement that while the court ruled in Italy’s favour on the length of licenses, the judges ignored other parts of the lawsuit, including Italy’s obligation to adjust to previous rulings from the court.
The case has been filed under C-463/13 Stanley International Betting Ltd vs Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze and Agenzia delle Dogane e Die Monopoli di stato.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favour of Italian gambling regulators, dismissing that betting licenses for new market entrants lasting 40 months were not unfair in comparison to established Italian gambling firms that had gained 12 year licenses in the jurisdiction.
Stanleybet had registered its legal actions against Italian gambling authorities on the grounds of unfair business practices and the regulator creating uneven market conditions.
However the ECJ deemed that Italy’s regulator could issue different license expiry dates in order to create a coherent national gambling policy and reduce gambling opportunities.
Stanley International said in a statement that while the court ruled in Italy’s favour on the length of licenses, the judges ignored other parts of the lawsuit, including Italy’s obligation to adjust to previous rulings from the court.
The case has been filed under C-463/13 Stanley International Betting Ltd vs Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze and Agenzia delle Dogane e Die Monopoli di stato.
January 16, 2015
Sportradar secures integrity partnership with Lega Serie B
Italy’s second division, Lega Serie B, signed an agreement with Sportradar Security Services, under which the betting fraud prevention specialists will provide both education workshops and e-learning packages to all 22 club teams for this season and the next two.
Under the terms of the agreement, the workshop and e-learning modules will be provided to the senior team and youth teams of each club. Workshops will help all participants understand why match-fixing is a growing problem, how fixers make their approaches and what the consequences of fixing are, using real-life case studies. The e-learning tutorials will support and supplement the workshops, ensuring that each participant understands what they have learnt and is comfortable with the information.
Speaking alongside Sportradar’s spokesperson, the Lega Serie B President, Andrea Abodi stressed not just their own commitment to fraud prevention and detection, but the whole of Italian professional football’s strong stance on honesty and integrity.
Mr Abodi made the following commitment: “The most important asset of football are its supporters. Deceiving football supporters means deceiving the whole football world. That is the reason why knowledge and training about match fixing is essential for Serie B‘s credibility, and is fundamental to ensuring our stadiums are full. I would like to underline how important teamwork is to ensuring the effective defeat of match-fixing, and our key ally is Sportradar, which already collaborates with many other football associations worldwide”.
Managing Director Integrity and Strategy at Sportradar Andreas Krannich, commented:
“Our market-leading Fraud Detection System already monitors every match in all five professional leagues in Italy. No other country has that level of coverage. Today successfully closes the circle. This exclusive agreement means that our unparalleled integrity education services will reach all 102 professional clubs in Italy. We could not be prouder that all of these stakeholders have shown this level of trust in us and we will ensure that professional football in this country gets the most informed, joined up and credible information and insight possible.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the workshop and e-learning modules will be provided to the senior team and youth teams of each club. Workshops will help all participants understand why match-fixing is a growing problem, how fixers make their approaches and what the consequences of fixing are, using real-life case studies. The e-learning tutorials will support and supplement the workshops, ensuring that each participant understands what they have learnt and is comfortable with the information.
Speaking alongside Sportradar’s spokesperson, the Lega Serie B President, Andrea Abodi stressed not just their own commitment to fraud prevention and detection, but the whole of Italian professional football’s strong stance on honesty and integrity.
Mr Abodi made the following commitment: “The most important asset of football are its supporters. Deceiving football supporters means deceiving the whole football world. That is the reason why knowledge and training about match fixing is essential for Serie B‘s credibility, and is fundamental to ensuring our stadiums are full. I would like to underline how important teamwork is to ensuring the effective defeat of match-fixing, and our key ally is Sportradar, which already collaborates with many other football associations worldwide”.
Managing Director Integrity and Strategy at Sportradar Andreas Krannich, commented:
“Our market-leading Fraud Detection System already monitors every match in all five professional leagues in Italy. No other country has that level of coverage. Today successfully closes the circle. This exclusive agreement means that our unparalleled integrity education services will reach all 102 professional clubs in Italy. We could not be prouder that all of these stakeholders have shown this level of trust in us and we will ensure that professional football in this country gets the most informed, joined up and credible information and insight possible.”
September 29, 2014
Mybet continues restructuring with Italian sale
Online gaming and betting provider mybet Holding has taken another step in its restructuring process after completing the sale of its mybet Italia business.
Mybet sold its interest in the operation by way of a management buyout to the company’s managing director Gianluca Torricelli.
The sale comes after mybet last month offloaded its stakes in Spanish companies Digital Distribution Management (DDM) and Digital Distribution Management Iberica (DDMI).
Sven Ivo Brinck, who was appointed as the sole member of the firm’s management board in late 2013, announced earlier this year that mybet would be realigned.
In a statement about the Italian sale, mybet said: “The move is in line with mybet's current goal of increasing profitability by focusing clearly on core markets.
“By successfully continuing with the restructuring measures, the management Board presses ahead with the systematic repositioning of the mybet Group as previously announced.
Mybet sold its interest in the operation by way of a management buyout to the company’s managing director Gianluca Torricelli.
The sale comes after mybet last month offloaded its stakes in Spanish companies Digital Distribution Management (DDM) and Digital Distribution Management Iberica (DDMI).
Sven Ivo Brinck, who was appointed as the sole member of the firm’s management board in late 2013, announced earlier this year that mybet would be realigned.
In a statement about the Italian sale, mybet said: “The move is in line with mybet's current goal of increasing profitability by focusing clearly on core markets.
“By successfully continuing with the restructuring measures, the management Board presses ahead with the systematic repositioning of the mybet Group as previously announced.
August 22, 2014
Italian Serie B Could Lose Eurobet аs Title Sponsor
The Italian Serie B is in danger of losing title sponsor Eurobet after reports surfaced that the online betting operator was unlikely to renew its deal with the second division in the Italian football league system.
Italian Serie B could lose Eurobet as title sponsor; German side Kaiserslautern inks deal with paysafecardA report from Tuttomercatoweb said that changes made within Eurobet’s management have shifted the interest in sponsoring a league many now feel doesn’t have the same financial strength it once had. The league is already rife with teams struggling to make ends meet. Just last month, AC Siena announced its bankruptcy a year removed from being relegated into Serie B, ending a proud 110-year history for the once-famous club.
If Eurobet leaves Serie B, the league stands to lose around €2 million of sponsorship money. That’s money that Serie B can’t lose given its current economic state. Other sponsors like Dacia and NGM are also tinkering on canceling their own sponsorship deals with Serie B.
Eurobet’s potential exit makes it the second online betting operator to drop ties with the league. Before it came into the picture as the title sponsor last season, Serie B was sponsored by Bwin.
Italian Serie B could lose Eurobet as title sponsor; German side Kaiserslautern inks deal with paysafecardA report from Tuttomercatoweb said that changes made within Eurobet’s management have shifted the interest in sponsoring a league many now feel doesn’t have the same financial strength it once had. The league is already rife with teams struggling to make ends meet. Just last month, AC Siena announced its bankruptcy a year removed from being relegated into Serie B, ending a proud 110-year history for the once-famous club.
If Eurobet leaves Serie B, the league stands to lose around €2 million of sponsorship money. That’s money that Serie B can’t lose given its current economic state. Other sponsors like Dacia and NGM are also tinkering on canceling their own sponsorship deals with Serie B.
Eurobet’s potential exit makes it the second online betting operator to drop ties with the league. Before it came into the picture as the title sponsor last season, Serie B was sponsored by Bwin.
September 09, 2013
Italian Senate Accidentally Bans Online Gambling For One-Year Period
The dependably dysfunctional Italian government turned in another epic howler this week as the Senate passed a motion that could result in the banning of all online gambling for a 12-month period. The motion, which was proposed by the Lega Nord party in an apparent bid to minimize the harm caused by gambling addiction, called for a year-long ban on video lottery terminal (VLT) and amusement with prizes (AWP) gaming in public places, as well as a moratorium on issuing any more online gambling licenses and the suspension of activities by the 200-odd licensed online gambling firms already operating in the country.
News of the motion’s passage was originally brought to light by DLA Piper attorney Giulio Coraggio, who found Lega Nord’s proposal sufficiently daffy to include the phrase “Is it a joke?” in the title of Thursday’s blog post. Italy’s finance ministry has since declared the motion unworkable, given that the licensed online firms currently doing business in the country have made significant investments based on their belief that the nine-year terms of their Italian licenses would, you know, be honored. These operators would be well within their rights to sue Italy for compensation, which they would most assuredly be awarded.
Furthermore, an effective ban on all gambling in Italy would deprive the already cash-strapped state of billions of euros in sorely needed tax revenue. Italy’s economy is projected to shrink another 2% in 2013 and youth unemployment is closing in on 40%. How dysfunctional is the Italian economy? Consider that last month, the owner of an electronics components factory in the city of Modena used his employees’ two-week summer holiday to secretly move the entire factory to Poland. As the owner of the 50-year-old family business told an Italian radio station, his decision to get out of Dodge was a frustrated response to the country’s high taxes and red tape: “I had three options: either close, move the factory … or shoot myself in the head.” Unlike Italian politicians, shooting himself in the foot was apparently not an option.
It seem the Senators from other parties that voted for the motion were under the impression that Lega Nord was merely seeking to put the brakes on the issuance of any further online gambling licenses. This is perhaps even more worrisome, given that it suggests Italian politicians don’t even have aides that read legislation before giving their bosses the CliffsNotes to help them decide how they should vote. Fortunately, the head of the Lega Nord party has gone public with full details on his party’s future motions…
News of the motion’s passage was originally brought to light by DLA Piper attorney Giulio Coraggio, who found Lega Nord’s proposal sufficiently daffy to include the phrase “Is it a joke?” in the title of Thursday’s blog post. Italy’s finance ministry has since declared the motion unworkable, given that the licensed online firms currently doing business in the country have made significant investments based on their belief that the nine-year terms of their Italian licenses would, you know, be honored. These operators would be well within their rights to sue Italy for compensation, which they would most assuredly be awarded.
Furthermore, an effective ban on all gambling in Italy would deprive the already cash-strapped state of billions of euros in sorely needed tax revenue. Italy’s economy is projected to shrink another 2% in 2013 and youth unemployment is closing in on 40%. How dysfunctional is the Italian economy? Consider that last month, the owner of an electronics components factory in the city of Modena used his employees’ two-week summer holiday to secretly move the entire factory to Poland. As the owner of the 50-year-old family business told an Italian radio station, his decision to get out of Dodge was a frustrated response to the country’s high taxes and red tape: “I had three options: either close, move the factory … or shoot myself in the head.” Unlike Italian politicians, shooting himself in the foot was apparently not an option.
It seem the Senators from other parties that voted for the motion were under the impression that Lega Nord was merely seeking to put the brakes on the issuance of any further online gambling licenses. This is perhaps even more worrisome, given that it suggests Italian politicians don’t even have aides that read legislation before giving their bosses the CliffsNotes to help them decide how they should vote. Fortunately, the head of the Lega Nord party has gone public with full details on his party’s future motions…
October 08, 2012
Italian Online Poker Collapses
Italian state regulator, L’Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) has released its annual report which shows clearly the serious decline in online poker revenue. From a high of €41m in January, gaming revenues have fallen 43% to just over €23m.
Tournament revenues are down almost 75% since regulation was first introduced having disintegrated from a high in January 2011 of €35.3m to an August 2012 low of €9.1m.
Cash games, which were first introduced just over 15 months ago and initially proved a boom for the market, are down 41% in the last year.
Italy’s poker problems can be put down to two inter-related issues: high gaming taxes and low player liquidity. The tax levy is the highest in Europe, which substantially increases the entertainment cost for recreational players and make the games an unviable source of income for professionals.
Additionally, the player pool is restricted to Italian citizens only. The artificial restriction means tournament prize pools are naturally lower, and a narrower selection of games run, which attracts fewer recreational players and, in turn, fewer serious players.
Recent discussion between Spanish and Italian regulators may result in a joint player pool at some stage next year. The discussions do at least point to the regulators being aware of the problem. Discussions with its French counterpart also continue, although ARJEL recently played down the possibility of shared liquidity between the two countries.
Italy’s experience with taxing and regulating online poker demonstrates more clearly than any rational argument that poker is different from other forms of online gambling and needs to be taxed and regulated accordingly.
Unfortunately the solution to the problem is political. In this time of austerity the probability of getting the political support necessary to cut online poker taxes and abandon the state monopoly is fairly low. The future of online poker in Italy is far from bright.
Tournament revenues are down almost 75% since regulation was first introduced having disintegrated from a high in January 2011 of €35.3m to an August 2012 low of €9.1m.
Cash games, which were first introduced just over 15 months ago and initially proved a boom for the market, are down 41% in the last year.
Italy’s poker problems can be put down to two inter-related issues: high gaming taxes and low player liquidity. The tax levy is the highest in Europe, which substantially increases the entertainment cost for recreational players and make the games an unviable source of income for professionals.
Additionally, the player pool is restricted to Italian citizens only. The artificial restriction means tournament prize pools are naturally lower, and a narrower selection of games run, which attracts fewer recreational players and, in turn, fewer serious players.
Recent discussion between Spanish and Italian regulators may result in a joint player pool at some stage next year. The discussions do at least point to the regulators being aware of the problem. Discussions with its French counterpart also continue, although ARJEL recently played down the possibility of shared liquidity between the two countries.
Italy’s experience with taxing and regulating online poker demonstrates more clearly than any rational argument that poker is different from other forms of online gambling and needs to be taxed and regulated accordingly.
Unfortunately the solution to the problem is political. In this time of austerity the probability of getting the political support necessary to cut online poker taxes and abandon the state monopoly is fairly low. The future of online poker in Italy is far from bright.
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