Sicily. Iabichella (Confsal): 'Sicily does not need the opening of casinos'
San Benedetto del Tronto: the Ama-Aquilone cooperative activates a site to prevent the problem of the gap
(Jamma) If the municipal regulation on slot machines approved at the end of May were a move in a naval battle, the game would be over, or almost. And the Municipality would have the victory in hand. The vast majority of gaming halls existing today on Genoese soil would disappear from circulation. 86% of them, over 8 out of 10, would in fact be forced to close within a few years. And this considering only one of the criteria established in the resolution: the minimum distance of 300 meters from schools.
Revealing how the Doria junta guessed the coordinates of the main enemy ships and hit the bull's eye is a XNUMXth century survey which, on the basis of data from the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies (Aams), calculated the distances of the establishments affected by the regulation by primary and secondary schools in the Genoese area. The result is shown in gambling map : a series of circles with a radius of 300 meters that start from the institutes and end up covering a large part of the urbanized area of the city. Incorporating, and therefore virtually declaring non-compliant, almost all authorized mini-casinos, betting agencies with slots, Bingo halls, in short, all those establishments "whose main activity", reads the text of the resolution, is "to make available customers a range of lawful games”.
Result: a carpet bombing that saves only crumbs, just 12 businesses out of 88 involved. Of course, it must be said that the simulations of the XNUMXth century are subject to approximation since they refer to authorizations and calculate distances as the crow flies. The text voted by the City Council, on the other hand, speaks of measurement "starting from the center of the entrance door to the premises and following the shortest pedestrian path, in compliance with the Highway Code, up to the center of the entrance door of the sensitive place identified". That is: strictly speaking, a few more exercises could get away with respect to what is shown in the map. Taking into account the other sensitive places envisaged by the law (among others, university buildings, cemeteries, sports facilities, gardens and parks) it is instead probable that, on the contrary, the number of "outlawed" gaming halls would further increase.
If this is the perspective, the importance of the match that will be played on 30 October is understood even more when the decision on the merits of the Ligurian Tar on the municipal regulation is awaited. The stakes are high. In fact, the rules apply to newly opened cinemas but – this is the interpretation given in the past by the Councilor for Development to this newspaper – also to those existing when they will have to renew the authorization, i.e. in 2017.
