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The tender for new Italian online gambling concessions is to be delayed after Malta submitted a detailed opinion to the European Commission on legislation needed to issue new licences.
Italian regulations regarding IT operators and management of online gambling should have concluded their time in EU standstill on October 18.
That would have paved the window for what is set to be a seismic concession period for the Italian market, during which all current licence holders will need to apply for new authorisation.
Licence fees are set to climb significantly and the jurisdiction is still burdened by a total advertising ban, meaning the shape of the market post-concessions is uncertain.
Instead the standstill window will last until November 18 because of a “detailed opinion” filed by Malta.
The document raises three issues: the role of B2B companies, which will now need a licence to serve the market; a ban on operators managing “skins” for other brands; and the need for gambling operators to set up additional online access checks to detect underage consumers.
The Italian government, according to sources at the Treasury who spoke to Vixio GamblingCompliance, will reply in a few days to the Maltese opinion, confirming all the measures and limits set by the Italian law.
These technical regulations, issued by Italian gambling authority ADM, are essential for the publication of the tender, which is now likely to take place in the first half of 2025.
According to James Scicluna, a Maltese lawyer and co-founder of WH Partners, who spoke to Vixio on the sidelines of the IAGR/IMGL conference in Rome: “Malta has consistently availed itself of its right to opinion on any proposed rules which it considers directly or indirectly have some effect on cross-border trade within the EU in the sphere of gambling.”
Scicluna, who is also working on the opening of a new WH Partners office in Rome, added: “It is likely that the only effect of the opinion will be the one-month extension of the standstill period. It may be after all that Malta seeks to clarify some points or obtain some reassurance. In any event it has been the European Commission’s policy to deprioritise gambling policy, so the commission is in my view unlikely to put pressure on Italy to amend its technical regulations.”
The new Italian online concessions will last nine years and cost €7m each, while the current licences are set to be extended by the Budget law up until December 31, 2025.
Licensees must also pay an annual fee of 3 percent of their gross gambling revenue, net of gambling taxes and winnings.
Operators will be allowed to manage only one app for each type of gambling product they are licensed for and only one website, effectively prohibiting running several skins under one licence.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), at least 50 operators will apply for the concession. The expected revenue from the process is €350m, while the concession fee will bring in additional annual revenues of €100m a year for nine years.
More than €3m per year is expected to come from the fee for the registration of an estimated 30,000 online top-up agents, as each of them will pay €100 per year.
The new concessionaires will have to implement player limits, including on time and loss of money, as well as introduce some automatic messages to warn the consumer on the duration of a gambling session and spending level when a preset limit is exceeded.
