Football, MP Amato (M5S) to Abodi (Sports Minister): "No gambling on club shirts, Dignity decree cannot be touched"

Newspapers and sports sites give the agreement as a practical fact thanks to which from next year an important Serie A football team will have as its main sponsor a gaming company but the M5S deputy, Cajetan Amato (in the photo), doesn't fit: “This would mean that on the shirts of one of the main Italian clubs there will be a sponsor linked to gambling with the usual tricks to get around the Dignity decree to which Italian football has now accustomed us. All this in the name of protecting millions of fans and enthusiasts from a devastating phenomenon such as gambling addiction. But above all this operation seems to be the Trojan horse for a definitive undermining of the Dignity decree. Moreover, on several occasions Andrea Abodi has expressed himself in favor of the return of betting in football and sport in general to advertising, in defiance of the two areas his ministry deals with, namely sport and young people. And ignoring testimonies such as those of the Juventus player Fagioli, who admitted that he started betting at 16 and that in the youth sectors it is a widespread practice among practically everyone. Now Andrea Abodi must answer two simple questions: are multimillion-dollar football clubs above the law, so much so that they can circumvent and undermine a state law with impunity? And above all: it is true that the government is preparing to modify the Dignity decree giving the green light to the return of gambling in Italian sport, in clear contrast with the championships of other European states where the ban has been or will be introduced precisely on the basis of 'Italian example? We tell them clearly: the Dignity decree cannot be touched. No to the total and complete return of gambling in football. If anything, think about how to prevent the rules from being circumvented."