Strange Decision Taken By Italian Regulators Regarding Gambling

The Italian Parliament has announced that it has passed a law which supposedly forbids all gambling activities in the European country for 12 months. The decision has come as an unpleasant surprise for the Italian gambling system, including both brick-and-mortar casinos and online gaming sites. It seems that Italy could be going back to the old days when the regulatory framework prohibited most of gambling operations.

Before the current decision, the European country legalized almost all forms of gaming and decided to recognize Texas Hold’Em as a game of skill rather than a game of luck. The ban proposal, which was earlier introduced by the Italian Parliament, is said to be considered as inapplicable by the Ministry of Finance. Spokespeople for the regulatory authority are saying that they do not agree with members of the Parliament’s decision regarding gaming and betting and that the proposal’s consequences could be catastrophic for the gambling industry and for government coffers which would lose significant amounts of tax revenue.

The Ministry of Finance claimed that this new proposal would make no sense for the 200 operators which have already been awarded 9 year licenses to run their gambling business activities. If the Parliament’s motion would be adopted, these entrepreneurs would need to shut down their operations for a 12 month period of time. So, luckily for land based casino operators and for entrepreneurs who wish to open online casinos, this proposal will most probably not be put into practice.