(Jamma) Already in January 2006 – writes the lawyer Michele Franzoso, (AS.TRO Study Center – Research Office of the Italian Game System Federation) -, in an interview given to impresaprogetto.it, a famous industrialist (Edoardo Garrone) stated: “Whether, as in the case of the Erg Group, an industrial activity is carried out with a significant impact on the territory, whether products for daily use are produced and sold, the "way" of producing has profound repercussions not so much and not only on marketing, but on the perception that one has, at a social level, of the company. The long-term sustainability of its business model, in fact, is increasingly based on being perceived in a positive way by the territory and by society, and this can only be achieved if the company pays attention to factors such as the environmental impact, the relations with external stakeholders and with civil society, and so on. For this purpose, it is not enough to respect the laws and regulations, since these very often lag behind the demands and needs of society: we must go beyond what is imposed on us, identifying the management areas where we can make progress in direction of a true and greater social responsibility. In this sense, the mere drafting of a social report is not enough; Corporate Social Responsibility is expressed in the rethinking of processes, in the redesign of the organization, in the formulation of new strategies".
In a reflection of a "general" nature which today finds unanimous (at least theoretical) application in all organized and structured companies, there is the summary of the "weakness" of our industrial fabric, certainly suffering from "dwarfism" but above all guilty of a certain "old age of thought": where one perches only in the traditional paradigm of capitalism of the 60s (claiming how much work is guaranteed, how much taxes are paid) the perception of the company automatically becomes "negative", and nowadays such an image jeopardizes development like an economic crisis (let alone, then, if the crisis adds).
Lawful gaming, i.e. the "youngest" industry in the country, therefore finds itself having to undertake a mandatory path of "redevelopment" of itself, which knows how to put its non-old age at the center of itself" and the necessary adoption of a different way of conceiving the economic result.
If it is true that not a day goes by without the presentation of a bill to increase the PREU to finance "public needs", it is also true that the sector lacks a "system" social responsibility, i.e. a context in which to put the social contribution that all legitimate gaming companies could make online, by opposing (for example) the "bad reputation" of slots with the foresight of a young industry that "before the law imposes it" takes charge of the protection of the territories in which it operates.
This is the "gap" that separates our sector from the path it must have already taken, and which in certain contexts remains: when one thinks that today slot machines pay for the social faults of VLTs, and that earlier they paid for the social faults (and judicial) of video poker we think in "anti-industrial" terms, perhaps founded on the merits, but a thousand miles away from a solution that "reverses the trend".
The current context of economic crisis exasperates spirits and makes it very difficult to think in terms of the "system", but if you have the patience to read the advice we receive from abroad in foreign newspapers, you realize that you have no choice: the industry (even that which is lawful) must re-appropriate its "new" social function (our Constitution had already foreseen it in a farsighted way, understanding how capitalism as an end in itself could only be resolved in a disconnect between “people” and “wealth”). The new function of industry is to be a "companion" of the territories in which it settles and its populations, their first source of help and their first advocate of interests.
Given the importance that "political initiative" assumes in Italy, also for the purpose of guiding industrial choices (all of them), the suggestion addressed to the Government and to all holders of political responsibilities is to make this model of development their own.
What is hoped for is the creation of a context in which the ethical and social enterprise can develop and conquer its deserved space, to the rightful detriment of "old style" companies, now unable (all, and in all sectors) to achieve the coveted economic results and "a fortiori" unable to "serve" the territory, but always ready to ask for protection for their "old" position of mere employer.
The benefit that the legitimate gaming industry would derive from it would be enormous, as it would be placed in a context of reducing the importance of "entrepreneurial individuality" in favor of the exaltation of the sector's capabilities.
