The European Commission’s decision to issue formal comments on the Italian draft decree on remote gaming has been welcomed by the European Gaming and Betting Association.
The Italian draft decree was notified to the European Commission for evaluation in December 2007, enabling other Member States to evaluate the content of draft laws before they are adopted with the intention of preventing the creation of barriers to internal market freedom. The EC decision to comment will prevent the Italian government from adopting the decree in its current form and encourage amendments to the draft.
In a statement on the EGBA website, Secretary General Sigrid Ligné said: “Italian remote gaming legislation still contains measures that don’t serve a clear legitimate public order interest.”
The EGBA highlights several problems within the draft including a restriction on the types of games that would be available to Italian players and the obligation for remote gaming companies to continuously connect to the Italian regulator’s centralised IT system which would create additional costs and technological barriers for foreign gaming companies.
The EGBA also believes the Italian authorities need to take protections already provided by regulated foreign operators into consideration when establishing levels of protection for Italian citizens.
“We hope that in the coming weeks, the Italian authorities will amend their draft decree in an attempt to solve the few remaining issues,” Ligné added.
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