(Jamma) – A few weeks ago in a large shopping center in Rome – writes Franco Masini, a well-known manager of Rome – after 40 years I met a fellow soldier and with no little mutual effort, in the end we recognized each other. After the first half hour of the meeting made up only of memories and anecdotes of the time, as is normal, we ended up talking about today.
After having had a military career for years, he became a manager of an important air traffic and flight safety agency. When I described what I did, open up heaven! Every time I tried to rationally explain how the system worked, in its entirety, there was always an "if", a "but", a "the newspapers say that..." or "they said on television...". At that point, one of those signs for orientation jumped out at me, like "YOU ARE HERE" with the relative red dot indicating the position. I took a box of shoes that my wife had bought earlier and started sketching the entire industry, the real functions and the main players on the scene in pen. Now this synoptic picture exhibited here is nothing more than the elaboration made by a professional graphic artist friend of mine of what I had drawn, in an approximate way and with only a pen, on a shoe box.
I explained that everything comes from above, that is, from the State, which for years has been the only dominus of the scene and with its structures over the years has developed and produced what exists now. When I pointed out to him my position, i.e. in zone two and that by now the chances of survival (obviously as companies and let's hope it stops there!) is getting smaller every day, he began to listen in silence and without interrupting with “if” the “but”, etc.
When he noticed that zone 1 rests completely on zone 2, the misalignment of the balance to the sole detriment of zone 2 took on a completely new and paradoxical light. Yes, because the only protagonists of zone 2 are the equipment management companies, which allow the survival of the entire sector without having any ownership, given that "the complementary sheet of my car is in fact someone else's!".
Anything generated by zone 1 is downloaded to zone 2, without testing or testing and least of all without asking the single question: "But what effect will it produce?". A problem that, for example, no one in zone 1 has ever thought about is that of the surplus of winnings over 75%, which was attributed by the Revenue Agency to the management companies as income, only 8 years after the start of all the system took place in 2004. What about the continuous forced engine changes? When a flaw in the system showed up here and there… et violà, let's change the devices, they always pay the same! I prefer not to comment! Here, however, my friend's comment was: "But how do you put such complex systems into operation without testing them thoroughly?". I understand his question because in aeronautics any innovation, modification or simple operating anomaly is tested up to the maximum possible safety and despite this, occasionally there are problems.
When asked how the comma 6 system was born and above all from whom, I struggled a lot to explain that all this was born and developed from almost 60 years of continuous progress and innovations that the sector has been able to create and develop, up to when the State thought of regulating everything in its own way without making use of the experience developed by the entertainment sector. Again, I prefer not to comment. From a Zone 1 revenue standpoint, this is simply exhilarating beyond the best of expectations.
I don't want to go into further detail because we'd have to talk about it for another week, but there's the fair and then we have to work. However, the picture sums up and synthesizes the state of things in an incontrovertible way. My friend concluded by exclaiming: "But such a thing is neither in heaven nor on earth!" and I replied to him, since he deals with things that travel in the air, which certainly don't exist there but unfortunately they do exist here on earth, and how! In fact, the final gem of all this is the introduction of VLT gaming on the market, which has developed the phenomenon of gambling addiction with devastating effects and unprecedented virulence, but the only absurd and demagogic solution that has been found and is passing on all the media and in the political class, is to remove the slots from the bars. Just absurd!
One last annotation which is not revealed in the synoptic table but insiders can understand perfectly is that looking down from top to bottom passing through the two zones, it can be seen that the whole system works automatically passing from one database to another through computers. Only three elements must move in the physical and material universe with all that movement entails in order to access their functions. 1) The management company, which physically has to cover millions of kilometers with men and equipment, to make the entire fleet work seven days a week. 2) The appliance construction companies, which also have to move men and equipment in the physical universe to produce appliances. 3) Finally the player, who must move too if he wants to access the game. Everyone else can get their work done while sitting behind a computer. From these considerations, conclusions can be drawn on the lack of lucidity and on the anxiety generated to do one's job well. Because everything must be harmonized by modulating resources, according to the main purpose of every living entity: SURVIVAL.
PS This pattern is also available in A4 landscape format. I printed it and placed it next to paragraph 6A in some bars and halls, noticing that someone stops to look and asks. Suggestions for any changes to complete the schema are welcome. For those wishing to print it, just request it for free by sending an email to: [email protected]
Have a good day and good work everyone
Franco Masini
