President Giorgia Meloni has accelerated gambling reform in Italy as lawmakers prepare a draft decree to shake up retail gambling’s regulatory framework.
A proposal is expected to be presented to the Council of Ministers, according to Agripro News, which will lay out the future outlook for gambling machines (slots and video lottery terminals), retail betting and bingo networks.
At the heart of the shift is a targeted reduction of the network of venues that host slot machines and VLTs. In total, the number of outlets with installed slot machines is expected to decrease by approximately 10% to 40,000.
Consequently, the number of slot machines and VLTs is also expected to drop from 240,000 to 200,000 and from 55,000 to 46,000, respectively.
Alongside this, there will also be a heightened focus on player protection through the introduction of certification for venues, led by the country’s gaming regulator, the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM).
Certification will require businesses to deploy appropriate measures to prevent problem gambling and access to gambling machines by minors.
In addition, new rules will also mandate a 100 metre minimum distance for gambling locations away from secondary schools, addiction treatment centres and hospital care facilities, doubled to 200m for non-certified venues, as well as mandated shutdown periods.
Certified venues will be required to shutdown machines between 3.00am and 8.30am and 1.30pm and 2.30pm, while non-certified venues will have to shut down for an extra half an hour during the early and afternoon periods, with the afternoon period beginning at 1pm also.
These changes form part of a wider shift in Italy’s gaming landscape led by the ADM, as Meloni has underpinned ambitions for a more controlled gambling market, strengthening the ability of the regulated sector to compete with unlicensed operators.
In what would be the most consequential change, she is undertaking a review of the Dignity Decree, which prohibits iGaming sponsorship on the front of the Serie A football shirts and has been previously criticised for emboldening the black market.
Meanwhile, in November, the ADM activated the 52 licences that now make up Italy’s online gaming market as authorities embarked on a strategy for change focused on stricter compliance measures, advanced technological enforcement, and stronger anti-money laundering controls, as well as tackling Italy’s significant black market presence.
As part of the shake-up, authorities placed a ban on “skins”, which previously allowed multiple affiliate sites to operate under a single master licence, resulting in the closure of hundreds of gambling websites.
As the retail arm of the changes begins to take shape, authorities will need to ensure that Italy’s network of regional governments amend local laws to bring them in line with the new regulatory framework.
Once approved at the cabinet level, the legislation will proceed to the Joint State–Regions Conference and relevant parliamentary committees. No fixed timeline has been set for the full implementation of the new rules.
