(Jamma) The Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber yesterday also examined, as far as it is responsible, the text of the Fiscal Delegation, focusing in particular on art. 14 which dictates new provisions on gambling.
"As is known - said Margherita Miotto, rapporteur for the XII Commission - the Commission has been dealing with the theme of games since the last legislature, in which the cognitive investigation relating to the social and health aspects of gambling addiction was deliberated. gamble, the final document of which was approved in August 2012.
As regards the current legislature, he pointed out that in the session of the same Commission on 11 September last, the examination of four bills (AC 101 Binetti and related) was started which, despite having different contents, are united from the fact of providing, for various reasons, interventions aimed at the treatment and prevention of addiction to pathological gambling.
Other proposals on the same subject - not yet assigned - have been presented by various parliamentary groups.
Going into the merits of the provision in question, it should be noted that article 14, paragraph 1, grants the Government the power to reorganize the provisions in force regarding public gaming, confirming the organizational model of the system constituted by the concession and authorization regime, in what is considered indispensable for the protection of public faith, order and safety, for the prevention of money laundering of the proceeds of criminal activities, as well as for guaranteeing the regular flow of the tax levied on gaming.
The Italian model of public gaming with cash prizes is based on the one hand on the reservation in favor of the State in the matter of games and bets and, on the other, on the concession of the service, through which the Administration entrusts a subject private, chosen on the basis of public selections, in full compliance with community legislation, the exercise of the game, expanding the legal sphere of the recipient and maintaining powers of control over the activity.
In particular, - he explains - paragraph 2 of article 14 indicates various principles and directive criteria to which the Government must comply in the reorganization of the matter, in the first place that of proceeding to the systematic and organic collection of the provisions in force and their adaptation to the most recent principles established at European Union level, as well as the need to prevent gambling addiction or pathological gambling and underage gambling, with the express repeal of incompatible or no longer current provisions (paragraph 2, letter a)" .
Miotto observes that the profiles of greatest interest to the XII Commission pertain to the prevention of pathological gambling and the protection of minors: these are issues dealt with by the aforementioned legislative proposals under examination, in relation to which various provisions have been introduced .
In this regard, he recalls, in particular, that article 5, paragraph 2, of decree-law no. 158 of 2012 (so-called Balduzzi decree) provided for the updating of the essential levels of assistance (LEA) with reference to prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services aimed at people affected by gambling addiction, understood as a pathology that characterizes subjects affected by gambling syndrome with cash prize. The decree of the President of the Council of Ministers by which this update should be carried out at present is being defined.
Moreover, the 2011 stability law had already established that, with an inter-management decree of the Autonomous State Monopolies Company (AAMS) and the Ministry of Health, within 60 days of the entry into force of the law itself, lines of action to the prevention, contrast and recovery of gambling addiction phenomena resulting from compulsive gambling (article 1, paragraph 70, first sentence, 220 of 2010). The draft decree, transmitted in the month of law n. of June 2011, is still being examined by the Joint Conference. The deadline for issuing the decree was most recently extended to 31 December 2013.
In the context of the regulatory framework in force, he also points out article 7, paragraph 5, of the aforementioned Balduzzi decree-law, which provides for the obligation to report warnings on the risk of addiction to the practice of games with cash winnings and on the relative probability of winnings on game cards; on gaming devices (so-called AWP - Amusement with prizes); in halls with video terminals (so-called VLT - Video lottery terminal); at points of sale for bets on sporting and non-sporting events; on websites intended to offer games with cash prizes.
With specific reference to the chapter on the protection of minors, he points out that article 7, paragraph 4, of the same decree establishes that, from 1 January 2013, advertising messages for games with cash prizes on television and radio broadcasts and in theatrical performances are prohibited or cinemas mainly aimed at young people; advertising messages for games with cash prizes in newspapers and magazines, during television and radio broadcasts and cinema and theater performances, as well as via the internet, which encourage gambling, or which contain minors, or which do not warn risk of gambling addiction.
Pursuant to the subsequent paragraph 4-bis, the advertising of games involving cash winnings must clearly show the percentage of winning probability that the person has in the single advertised game and if the same cannot be defined, the historical percentage must be indicated for similar games. In the event of infringement, the proponent must repeat the same advertisement according to the methods, means and quantity of advertisements identical to the original advertising campaign, indicating the fact that the advertisement is repeated due to infringement of the reference legislation.
With regard to the provision in question, he observes that the text of Article 14, paragraph 2, letter a), does not specify the measures to be taken to achieve the aims to be achieved, such as, for example, acting on the level of game offer, introducing a limitation of the same.
The guiding principles and criteria indicated in letters b) and c) below are aimed at defining the sources of regulation of the various aspects linked to taxation, as well as to the regulation of individual games, for which there is an explicit legal reservation to ordinary law or to acts having the force of law (letter b), while the provisions of the director general of the Customs and Monopolies Agency will bring about the specific regulation of the individual games, the definition of the general conditions of the game and the relative technical rules, including those relating to infrastructure ( letter c).
Furthermore, it is envisaged that the provisions in force regarding the regulation of the tax levy on individual games must be reorganized, in order to ensure the rebalancing of the related tax levy, and in order to harmonize the percentages of premium or compensation recognized to the concessionaires , to managers and merchants, the percentages intended for winnings (payout), as well as on the subject of discipline of reporting obligations (letter d).
Pursuant to letter e), during the implementation of the delegation, the application of transparent and uniform rules throughout the national territory must also be guaranteed on the subject of qualifications for the exercise of the gaming offer, authorizations and controls, with adequate forms of participation of the municipalities in the planning of the local location of gaming halls, as well as in the matter of installation of equipment suitable for lawful gaming, in any case subject to the State defining the rules necessary for public order and safety requirements.
Subsequent letter f) then provides that the reorganization of the matter also entails a review of the premiums and fees payable to licensees and other operators according to a criterion of progressiveness linked to the volumes of collection of bets. He then points out that in order to more effectively combat illegal gaming and the infiltration of criminal organizations in the exercise of public gaming, the guiding principles and criteria also include that concerning the strengthening of the discipline on transparency and subjective and honourability of subjects who, directly or indirectly, control or participate in the capital of public gaming concessionaires, also providing for specific causes for forfeiture of concessions or causes for exclusion from tenders for the issue of concessions (letter g).
Additional directive principles and criteria pertain, respectively: to the verification, with reference to gaming concessions, of the effectiveness of the current legislation on conflicts of interest (letter h); the reorganization and implementation of the provisions in force relating to controls, in order to strengthen the preventive and repressive effectiveness against evasion and other violations on the subject (letter i); the reorganization and implementation of the current sanctioning, penal and administrative system, in order to increase its dissuasive effectiveness and its effectiveness, providing for aggravated sanctions for violations concerning online gaming (letter l).
The subsequent letter m) instead concerns the territorial rationalization of the gaming collection network - starting from that practiced through the devices referred to in article 110, paragraph 6, letters a) and b)773 of the TULPS (RD n. 1931) – in any case based on the criterion of the progressive concentration of gaming collection in safe and controlled environments, with the relative responsibility of the concessionaire, or the owner of the exercise, as well as the identification of the criteria for reorganizing and developing the territorial dislocation of the gaming collection network , also on the basis of a review of the maximum limit of the gaming machines present in each establishment, the provision of a minimum size for the establishments that host them and the gradual separation of the spaces in which they are installed and, lastly, the revision of the discipline of public safety licenses, referred to in the aforementioned Consolidated Law, suitable for guaranteeing more effective checks on the effective to ownership of unitary provisions that exclusively enable the lawful collection function of the game.
In this regard, he recalls that article 7, paragraph 10, of the decree-law n. 158 of 2012 (so-called Balduzzi decree) provides that the Customs and Monopolies Agency shall plan forms of progressive relocation of the points of the physical network for collecting games played using AWP (Amusement with prizes) gaming machines - article 110, paragraph Pag. 1676, letter a), 773 of 1931 - on the basis of criteria, also relating to the TULPS n. distances from primary and secondary education institutions, from health and hospital facilities, from places of worship, from socio-recreational and sports centers, defined by decree of the Minister of Economy and Finance, in agreement with the Minister of Health, which are territorially close to the aforementioned places. These plans operate in relation to the concessions for the collection of public gaming announced after the date of entry into force of the law converting the aforementioned decree-law.
Furthermore, the implementation of the delegation must be based on the following guiding principles and criteria: alignment, even tendentially, of the duration of the various gaming management and collection concessions (letter n); deflation, even facilitated and accelerated, of disputes relating to public gaming or with the same in any way connected (letter o); implementation of an extraordinary control plan aimed at contrasting the practice of gaming, in any form, carried out in ways that do not comply with the regulatory framework established by the State for the practice of lawful gaming (letter p).
A further criterion for the exercise of the delegation concerns the establishment of a special fund aimed primarily at combating gambling addiction, to be implemented on a portion of the tax resources deriving from public games, also in competition with regional and local finance (letter q).
Other directive principles and criteria then concern: the strengthening of monitoring of compliance with the provisions in force regarding the prohibition of advertising for games with cash prizes, also for the purpose of reviewing the regulations on the subject (letter r); the introduction of a mechanism of self-exclusion from gaming, based on a national register in which subjects who request to be excluded from participating in any form of games with cash prizes can register (letter s), the provision of greater forms of control , also electronically, in compliance with the right to privacy and taking into account adequate thresholds, on the relationship between bets, player identity and winnings (letter t).
Finally, he points out that the last of the guiding principles and criteria set out in article 14 - paragraph 2, letter u) - concerns the relaunch of the horse racing sector, with respect to which it provides for the establishment of the Italian horse racing league, a non-profit association , subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Agricultural Policies, as well as a series of other measures.
