Italy to Award Online Gambling Licenses by Year-End

Back in January, Italy’s gaming Regulatory Authority (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM)) launched a public tender for the award of up to 120 online gaming licenses. According to local media, the application verification process is entering its final stages and is expected to be finalized before Christmas. The licenses will be valid through December 31, 2022.

The Tender Explained

The tender was launched for “the setting up of the operation of online gaming platforms” for the provision of the fixed-odds and pool betting on sports, skill-games with cash prizes (excluding lottery and similar and including poker and other card- and casino games), fixed-odds betting with interaction between players, and bingo.

AMD’s official publication reads

Further this process, ADM will grant 120 new licenses, based on the chronological order of the applications. Around 1/3 of those licenses are expected to be awarded to the existing operators in the market whose licenses already expired. The deadline to provide an application for an Italian gaming license is 19 March 2019, however operators that are interested in dealing with such process shall proceed as a matter of urgency since the licenses will be assigned on a “first come, first served basis.”

The First EU Country to Ban Gambling Ads

Italy is the first European country to ban all gambling advertising, on grounds of it “destroying families.” The decision - dubbed “Dignity Decree” - was reached in July, with the ban to become effective in January 2019.

Country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Luigi Di Maio, said at the time that TV, radio, and internet promotions, as well as football club sponsorships, will be banned altogether. The move is widely believed to have been pushed forward as to address a rise in problem gambling in Italy.

“I think this is an industry that has become a bit too big, at the expense of people's health and dignity: we are going to cut it down in size,” Di Maio said.

According to the 2017 National Research Council figures, some 400,000 people were facing a gambling problem – four times more than a year before.

Football clubs, which often rely on sponsorships, have criticized the measure. Chief Executive of Serie A team Bologna, Claudio Fenucci, has even gone so far as to say the Government is “crazy.” His indignation can possibly be excused, especially if we keep in mind that football clubs easily cash in €100m or even more in sponsorships.

Forza Italia Party’s Deborah Bergamini puts it this way: “The only result will be to humiliate Italian football fans, whose teams will have less money at their disposal.”

Of course, let us not forget that Forza Italia is ex-Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi’s party. Berlusconi’s family is the owner of Mediaset, which is to conceivably lose revenue following the ad ban.

According to ADM data, Italy’s gambling market amounted to €96.1bn in turnover and €19.4bn in pre-tax revenue in 2016 (2017 figures haven’t been published yet). Licensed operators say that the right to advertise their services is the only perquisite they have over their black market rivals.

An Optimistic Assessment

Seeing as 2019 will be disadvantageous in more ways than one for the country’s gambling industry, the ADM has hoped to attract online gambling operators with this latest move. In the end however, the expected 120 applications came down to only two-thirds.

This translates into €16m headed to Italy’s coffers, instead of the expected €24m, with the fee requested by the ADM standing at €200,000.

Licensees to Participate in the International Poker Liquidity Project?

Some licensees may get to participate in the international poker liquidity project. Among others, Winamax and 888poker have expressed their interest in it. However, Italy still hasn’t published its technical standards framework, although the checks were completed in March.

PokerStars has already launched its PokerStars Europe network for French and Spanish players, with Portugal expected to join the fun next.