(Jamma) – The Criminal Court of Viterbo, with a sentence of immediate acquittal rendered at the hearing of 5 June 2013, acquitted the owner of a business, called to answer for gambling and collection of unauthorized gaming (art .718 cp and art.4 law 401/89), who had installed totems connected electronically to the "playnetisland" site reproducing the so-called promo games.
The Judge, having evaluated the arguments of the defense, applied the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice and affirmed that the exercise of this activity, which cannot be assimilated to gambling due to the fact that no cash prizes are foreseen, is permitted if carried out on the license basis issued by the EU member state of origin.
The lawyer Marco Ripamonti, with his office in Viterbo and Florence, defender of the accused, commented as follows: “The Judgment aligns with the rulings in this sense already made by numerous courts, including Turin, Bologna, Parma, Ascoli Piceno, Florence, San Benedetto del Tronto, and several others. The portal manager, an Austrian company, was, moreover, in possession of the license for the activity of electronic commerce which the Judge deemed worthy of protection".
Among the most prominent arguments put forward by the Defence, in addition to the Community jurisprudence and the EC Directive 31/2000, also the circular issued by the AAMS regarding skill games, which in the concluding part also dealt with the argument relating to promo games and some orders for the release of the totems issued by the AAMS itself.
On the recent AAMS circular of 13 June 2013, the lawyer Marco Ripamonti briefly commented as follows: “Beyond the law issues, in relation to which I already have personal convictions that I will assert before the judiciary if necessary, what emerges is that the effective rationale of the circular seems rather not so much to prevent the appliances from being installed in shops not subjected to police checks (considering that the New Slots can also be installed in establishments equipped with the 86 tulps license), but rather that of creating a conflict of interest between owners of gaming halls who also have collaborations with authorized bookmakers in the countries of origin and supplier managers of network appliances, with the hope that the interests of the latter will prevail. The latter solution leaves me somewhat perplexed and could instead translate into a boomerang for AAMS (and for the exchequer), as has already happened in the past, for example with regard to telematic gaming stations in PDCs, where forecasts of the AAMS circular relating to the ban on the installation of such instruments was denied by the Court of Cassation. In short, I wouldn't be surprised by a decrease in deposits through Slots, moreover in line with a recent trend in the media and in public opinion. I can't even say how much the provision can really be defined as a sort of "tight" for CTDs, given that ultimately it is the circular that "recognizes" the situation of the operational CTD as a de facto reality, especially if affected by a refusal to request 88 tulps opposed by the Police Headquarters for questions of dubious community compatibility. And this evidently in the light of the rulings of the Court of Justice and the Court of Cassation".
