Lega-5Star toughens policing code against gambling bad actors

As anticipated the Lega-5Star coalition government has turned up the heat on illegal gambling enterprises and black-market actors, moving to introduce Italy’s hardest stance on unlicensed gambling activities.

Last week the Italian assembly confirmed that the government could move forward with its tax charge increases across all gambling verticals, announced during the year-end close of 2018.

In its update, Lega-5Star would introduce a raft of new decrees strengthening the Italian police and judicial courts’ capacities against mafia-related gambling activities, which have come into the public spotlight following money-laundering charges made against licensed bookmakers in the well-publicised ‘Glassia’ police investigation.

Seeking to ‘strengthen controls and penalties’ against bad actors, Lega-5Star have increased the criminal sentencing for illegal gambling activities land-based and digital from 3-to-6 years – formerly 6 months to 3 years.

Updating legal provisions, Gambling enterprises that are deemed to have aided criminal activities, will be hit with penalties of ‘€50,000 for each violation’.

Furthermore, Betting shops or arcades that operate unlicensed/unregistered/illegal gaming machines will be charged with €20,000-per-unit fines.

Supporting its police forces, Lega-5Star has tasked the Italian Ministry of Finance with monitoring Illegal gambling activities forming a strategic unit, with the special guidance of the Antimafia Parliamentary Committee.

Last week’s update, sees Lega-5Star continue its frosty relations with Italian gambling regulatory body – Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), which appear to have been given limited capacity on new anti-mafia directives.

Following last year’s Galassia fall-out, Lega-5Star officials continue to press Italian Economic Minister Giovanni Tria, to call for a review of ADM licensing processes and IT systems.