Italy Online Casino Guide

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Legal casino gambling age in Italy

Gambling Industry Overview in Italy

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Gambling legislation in Italy
Gambling authorities in Italy
Online casinos in Italy
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Gambling activities in Italy have existed for centuries in a variety of forms. They date back to the days of the Roman Empire as one of the favorite pastimes of the locals and have spread not only around the country but around Europe as well.

Flag of Italy Italy is the fifth most populous country in Europe, consisting of twenty regions, five of which, including Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Aosta Valley and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, have special statutes, granting them extended autonomy. “Home rule” allows them some degree of legislative, administrative and financial power, depending on their particular statute.

The country has a long history of dealing with gambling matters and has experienced its ups and downs regarding its attitude towards gambling.

Overview

The gambling laws in Italy are considered fairly liberal in comparison to the legislation of the rest of the European countries. As an example, in 2006, the country introduced legislation that permitted companies to offer a variety of sports betting services in retail locations and on the Internet. This happened at a time when a great number of the countries that are members of the European Union were focused on taking measures to restrict gambling in their territories.

Italy has made several changes to its legislation on the matter. The amendments enacted in 2011 permitted licenses for poker and casino games. As a result, several forms of gambling were offered to local citizens by a great number of licensed websites.

Current Italian legislation sets a differentiation between games of chance and games of skill. In addition, lotteries, sports betting, and other activities are regulated and legalized, while gambling, whether organized in a public place, an open-to-public place, or a private club, is considered illegal. The power to issue licenses and to regulate other gambling matters is given to the Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) (Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies).

The amendments made to the country's legislation concerning gambling were initiated by the requirements made by the European Union. The latter demanded that Italy become more compliant with both licensing and regulation conditions. Subsequently, thousands of gaming licenses were issued to betting stations, land-based casinos and online gambling operators in the country.

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Since the more relaxed rules came into effect, as of 2018, the gross gambling revenue (GGR) of European countries tends to be highest in Italy, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Spain, according to Statista. Still, there is a large gap between the various forms of gambling offered in the country.

Gambling Legislation History in Italy

Gambling Legislation in Italy Government officials have put their efforts into reducing the extent of gambling in the country. Lotteries and sports betting are classified as skill-based games and are currently permitted in different venues throughout Italy. The criminal legislation of the country, however, proclaims games of true gambling, which are not described as games of skill, as illegal.

For a long time, the country was pushed into different situations that varied from the prohibition of gambling activities and services to the legalization of some of them. The main reason for this was the fact that the Italian Government was primarily focused on keeping the country's citizens away from the negative aspects of the industry.

The true liberalization of the legislation rules related to online gambling started in 2006.

Several new laws were passed by the Italian Government almost a decade ago. In 2006, the country's authorities set a goal of creating a framework for legal gambling in Italy. The Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies is the authority that is responsible for the administration and control over the framework, as well as for the process of licenses issuing. The AAMS is also the regulatory authority for all regions of the country.

In addition, the Italian regulator has an online gambling black list of more than 500 ISP-banned internet venues. Italian laws legalized primarily skill games played for real money and an online betting exchange.

In 2007 the Finance Act was passed in Italy in order to further secure online gambling. The Act's goal was to regulate poker tournaments that took place in the country, The statute of video poker games remained intact, and they were left banned as they had been before.

Two years later, in April 2009, the Abruzzo Decree was passed as a legislature of fixed odds games of chance, as well as of additional web-based poker tournaments and ring games. In addition, the country canceled the requirement for the companies to be based in Italy, and the licensing fees were reduced. The decree officially introduced video lotteries and made online gambling, poker, roulette and casinos, legal.

Relevant Legislation

Gambling is proclaimed as illegal when organized in a public place, private club, or a place that is open to the public. In addition, Italian Criminal law sets a clear difference between the games of skill and games of luck. According to the country's legislation, lotteries, sports betting, and some other activities are put into the category of legal and regulated gambling and gaming activities.

Gambling is allowed by the state only. The responsibility of granting licenses to gambling operators is given to the Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies.

The Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies (AAMS) currently oversees the licensing procedure. There is a three-month license review period, after which, if approved, the company must obtain authorization to offer certain games. The operator's online platform must be certified, too.

As a rule, licenses are being issued to any company that is situated in the European Economic Area. According to Italian laws, the servers of online gambling activities providers can be located in any country, which currently is part of a bilateral agreement with the Italian Gaming Authority.

The country has come a long way from totally prohibiting all gambling activities, to making some of them legal under certain condition.

Online Gambling

Internet Gambling in Italy Online gambling activities are currently legal. In the past, the Italian Government put its efforts into tight monitoring, control, and suppression of online gambling in the country. The Government even went further by trying to clock foreign websites, but eventually failed.

Then, it tried to operate its own online gambling websites and finally legalized gambling in the country. According to article 38 of the Decree on Liberation that was passed on January 1st, 2007, all online gambling activities are officially legalized in the country.

Nowadays, there are more than 200 gambling websites in Italy. About 150 of them are online casino websites, while the rest of them are online bingo websites, online poker websites, and mobile casinos.

Thousands of legal permissions were provided to both local and foreign online gambling websites operators by Italy. The European Union also interfered with the country's online gambling affairs by accusing the Government of its attempts to block foreign websites. This resulted in passing a new law that came into effect in March 2010, which provided foreign online casino operators to offer their services to local players in case they have obtained a domestic license first.

According to current Italian legislation, the games and lotteries were initially organized and controlled by a Special State Monopoly Service that was subjected to the Ministry of Finance. Its responsibilities were taken over by the AASM under Law 357/88.

The licenses issued by the Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies cover bingo, casino, and cash poker games, skill games, fixed odd and totalisator sports, horse and other betting events, cash poker games and horse pools. In order to get an online gambling license, operators applying for one are required to provide certain evidence that they meet the requirements of Italian authorities.

As mentioned above, the AASM is entrusted with all gambling matters from issuing gambling licenses to online casino operators, to enforcing the administrative legal aspects of these matters within the country. Violation of its regulatory rules are met with serious consequences, which include a criminal trial, fines, forfeitures, imprisonment, parole, bails, and other restrictions.

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Italy Online Casino Guide

Gambling Industry Overview in Italy

The following approaches will be presented

Overview

Top Rated Online Casinos for Italy

Gambling Legislation History in Italy

Relevant Legislation

Online Gambling

Online Casinos that Welcome Italians

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