SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
At the close of the year, Italian gambling has received further positive news, as the restrictions of the Dignity Decree on gambling advertising and sponsorships will be reviewed in 2025.
Interviewed this weekend by La Verità, Roberto Alesse, Director General of the ADM, branded the Dignity Decree measures as “hypocritical regulation”, which “cannot be applied by a liberal state.”
The interview primarily focused on the significance of the ADM in Italy’s economic development. The agency carries regulatory oversight of Custom Duties, Alcohol/Tobacco, Gambling, and Energy Consumption—sectors critical to the 2025 Budget.
The ADM has completed year two of reforms under the ‘National Conservative’ program led by PM Giorgia Meloni. In 2023, Roberto Alesse was appointed to replace ‘conservative hardliner’ Marcello Minenna and oversee the agency’s reforms.
Having secured key directives for 2024, Alesse told La Verità that the ADM is ready to launch a new licensing framework for online gambling and its new lottery tender, expected to be launched this week. The developments are significant, as the government completes its first regulatory evaluation of Italian gambling since 2011, the year online gambling licenses were first authorised.
Key changes include Italy adopting a new licensing framework, which will apply a €7 million authorisation fee for each online gambling license. This new license fee will be implemented alongside a concessionaire’s operating fee of 3%.
However, eyebrows were raised when Alesse commented on upcoming procedures related to the government and ADM finalising the terms of the reform of ‘gambling networks’ (retail and land-based gambling venues).
As it stands, the ADM awaits approval of “a preparatory text, approved with Minister Maurizio Leo and the State-Regions Conference, which will introduce uniform laws across the national territory to address illegal gambling effectively.”
Alesse further stated that he expects the reforms to review and replace the restrictions of the Dignity Decree, which have applied to the Italian gambling sector since 2018.
As noted by Alesse: “We are working to adapt national standards to those required by Europe. However, let us clarify that the broader reform will overcome the so-called Dignity Decree that penalized the sponsorship of public games, harming the country’s economy.”
“It is about aligning the system with international standards. In a liberal state, legal gambling cannot endure excessive prohibitions, which, in fact, add to the ban already in place against illegal activities.”
Since 2019, Italian sports and media have observed a blanket ban on gambling advertising and sponsorships across all mediums, imposed by the Dignity Decree during the short-lived coalition government of the Lega and 5-Star Movement.
The ban has been contested by Serie A football clubs, media outlets, and gambling trade bodies, who claim the restrictions were illegally imposed by former Deputy PM Luigi Di Maio without providing any federal oversight.
Alesse concluded the interview by emphasising that ADM reforms could enable Italy to lead the European gambling sector in generating tax revenues, with balanced regulations to protect consumers from illegal gambling activities.
The importance of tackling the black market is underscored by the ADM’s report of its first decline in gambling duties since 2011.
The Agency’s latest bulletin detailed a 6% decrease compared to the €8.2 billion collected during the same period in 2023. For the entirety of 2023, ADM collected €11.62 billion in gambling taxes. As such, 2024 may mark the first year the ADM records a decline in tax revenues (excluding the impacts of COVID-19 in 2020).
