A very strict grip on gambling. After a year and a half of back and forth, State and Regions have finally reached an agreement which will revolutionize the universe of Italian gaming halls in order to stem the dangerous phenomenon of increasingly widespread gambling addiction in Italy.
An understanding that strikes straight a sector that brings in tax revenues of 10 billion a year and which risks being greatly reduced by the new rules established yesterday, September 7, by the Government.
Game rooms halved
The cornerstone of the agreement is the significant reduction in the number of gambling halls in the country. From 98.600 thousand theaters it will go, within three years, to 50.000, a real halving which will inevitably also lead to a consequent drop in Italian tax revenues (equal to 10 billion in 2016, as previously mentioned).
The 50 thousand surviving rooms will have to be equipped with a video surveillance system, they will have to guarantee complete traceability of bets and winnings, they will have to have a dedicated room and recognizable external signage. Anyone wishing to enter must present their identity document. In this way, the risk that, despite the legal prohibition, the players under the age of 18 should be avoided.
Goodbye to slots in bars and tobacconists
Not only does the agreement between the State and the Regions also establish the scrapping of over 142 slot machines (more than half of the total) which will disappear from bars and tobacconists, but also from newsstands, restaurants, hotels and bathing establishments.
At this juncture it should be remembered that slots alone collected more than that in 2016 49 billion euros (+2,5% compared to 2015), with effective expenditure of 10 billion euros (+9,6%) and tax revenues of 5,9 billion (+31% compared to the previous year). As Corriere della Sera points out, the new generation machines have distributed prizes for 18,8 billion, the so-called "Vlt" (video lottery) for 19,5 billion.
Slot Machine: the document will be needed
Another important point of the agreement regards the new slot machines. To avoid the involvement of minors, it is established that the machines will only be activated by inserting the national card or the "shopkeeper's card".
The Regions win
The 18-month battle between the state and the regions was won by the latter. In fact, the new regulation provides that, in the presence of a regional law that is harsher than the national one, the former prevails over the latter.
A painful decision for the Government which however represented the only way to overcome the opposition of Lombardy, the Province of Bolzano and Puglia.
Location of gaming halls
Local authorities will also be able to do their part, imposing a block on the game for at least 6 hours or establishing a minimum distance from the most sensitive points, schools and hospitals in primis. However, they will have to be careful not to create areas of high intensity where too much exercise is concentrated.
The protests
"We are moving in one direction: the expulsion of legal gaming, a sector that has 6 companies and 150 employees". This was stated by Stefano Zapponini, president of Sistema Gioco Italia (Confindustria).
