There will be no more inhibitions for online poker players: with the economic package approved by Parliament, cash games will be legal. The online poker rooms authorized by the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies (Aams) will offer the possibility of playing online for cash.
So far the only form allowed on the internet is a tournament mode. In a tournament, players pay an entry fee and risk only that, regardless of how much they lose. While playing cash, competitors bet in cash (in the form of chips) with no limit on the amount they could lose (or win) and without a fixed end date, as each player can leave the table when he wants. Chips, which until now had only a symbolic value, represent a real value in euros in cash games.
This novelty, already legal in other countries such as England and the United States, should restore vitality to a market, that of remote gaming, which since the beginning of the year has seen a decline of 6,8% compared to last year (Aams data).
In the latest maneuver approved in the House on Friday, the game package includes specific restrictions on online gaming. In fact, there will be a ban on financial and banking institutions, as well as credit card operators, from allowing transactions to rooms not registered in the Register of Certifiers for Aams qualification. Penalty a fine ranging from 300 thousand to one million euros.
Another important restriction concerns the maximum limit that a player can lose: 1000 euros for cash game bets and an increase from 100 to 250 euros for the buy-in limit for participation in a tournament (the latter in effective as early as May). In tournament mode, the latest data from the Aams already reveal an increase in the average price of the "entrance ticket": from an average cost of 5,80 euros in the month of March, it rose to an average of 6,44 euros in May. A sign that we are still far from the reserve price that players are willing to pay.
The other novelty of the game package of the maneuver concerns the live poler rooms, or those, which in less correct terms, we would define gambling dens. By November 30, there will be a call for tenders for 1.000 licenses to open new live rooms, i.e. to allow face-to-face play. The starting price is 100 euros per licence.
If hard times lie ahead for amateurs, these innovations are excellent for the Treasury: in fact, there is a 20% tax applicable to the residual played net of winnings and valid for all remote games in non-tournament mode. Aams data shows that in 2010 94 million euros entered the state's pockets from online games. But these are only a small part of the total 9,9 billion paid to the Treasury last year by the entire gaming sector.
According to analysts, the games package approved in the maneuver will ensure 1,4 billion euros more to the State between 2011 and 2013. The most significant contribution will come from the renewal of the current licenses for the management of slot machines which will lead to public coffers 435 million euros. Even the new concessions for Videolotteries (which so far has "only" 10 concessionaires) will fill the Treasury: a 400 million euro tender is planned. Registration in the register will become mandatory for those who work in the appliance sector, a small precaution that will bring in 50 million euros. The new game modes for SuperEnalotto and Lotto will pool €550 million. The other calls for tenders – to expand the sports and horse racing betting network and regulate the live poker sector (the 1000 licenses with a starting price of 100 euros each) will ensure at least 225 million euros over the three-year period.
As always stereotypes are not the right representation of reality. There are those who, despite knowing that it is highly unlikely (not to say impossible) to win the lotto, let themselves be seduced: and how to define them if not a great dreamer? Not to mention the professional poker players, great statisticians who have nothing to envy to the major traders in the world.
“Why should gambling be worse than any other means of making money, such as commerce?” asked Dostoevsky. “It is true that only one of a hundred wins”, but at least he will have paid his taxes.
