SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
ADM, Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency, has announced that it has begun work on ‘two new decrees’ to settle long running sports betting related disputes.
The agency which oversees the licensing and governance of the Italian gambling sector announced that it will update industry rules on ‘Palpable Errors’ and ‘Bonus Management’ – two areas that have conflicted Italy’s online bookmakers since the market’s regulated launch in 2006.
On Palpable Errors, the ADM announced that it will prepare a procedure for licensed operators to report ‘clear mistakes’ and ‘market corrections’ applied to betting markets.
As reported by Italian gambling news source AgiproNews: “The request for correction must be communicated by the bookmaker to the ADM via an application system and must contain a number of minimum requirements, including details both on the operator and on the challenged odds”.
Licensed operators will be informed of the conditions applicable for correcting Palpable Errors, which are yet to be defined by the ADM, who will consider all technical intricacies that can lead to mistakes.
Italian bookmakers have long-called for the ADM to settle legal boundaries on Palpable Errors as many customer disputes have had to be settled by law courts. The ADM deems its upcoming decree as a resolution to end further consumer litigation with licensed bookmakers.
On Bonus Management, the ADM has begun its review of how wagering incentives are rewarded by bookmakers. The review will focus on defining the ‘terms and conditions‘ to ensure the “practical use of bonuses as a customer incentive”.
Of significant importance, the agency noted that it will define a binding procedure for bookmakers to report on the ‘actual cost’ of bonus rewards when auditing year accounts.
Italian sports betting rules state that bookmakers cannot exceed rewarding a €100 bonus per customer on a fixed-odds wager. Yet, bookmakers have long stated that a methodology needs to be defined on calculating the cost of bonus rewards for tax and auditing purposes.
The decrees on Palpable Errors and Bonus Management will be carried independently from the Italian government’s ongoing reorganization of the Italian gambling sector as sanctioned this summer by PM Giorgia Meloni.
The ADM concluded that it would publish its initial proposals in the coming weeks, informing all relevant stakeholders on upcoming changes.
