(Jamma) «A shame, a moral slap to so many men, women, young people and families ruined by gambling». The regional councilor of the Pd Beppe Pagani does not mince words to underline the "amnesty" decided by the government towards the companies that manage online gaming. "I find it completely inappropriate that in the cancellation of the IMU on the first house - says Pagani in a note – the extravagant provision that rebates almost two billion euros to the most important companies that manage slot machines has been included. I am totally against this unfortunate decision and I ask the Government to withdraw it or to modify it by excluding the slot machine companies from any amnesty measure". Then Pagani recalls the process of the affair that is causing discussion today: «In February of last year - recalls Pagani - a sentence of the Court of Courts condemned the 10 major slot machine dealerships and two managers of the Monopolies to pay 2,5 billion euros . It should be noted that, in the trial, the same Prosecutor of the Court of Auditors had even asked for a penalty of 98 billion. The dispute centered on the fact that the slots should have connected to a central brain managed by Sogei, (company of IT services of the Ministry of Economy) in order to quantify the exact amount of revenue deriving from the game. Connections that, however, in most cases weren't working. Then Pagani continues: «According to estimates made at the time, between 2004 and 2006, out of just over 200 devices, those not connected to the network numbered 130. The 98 million euros requested by the Court's Prosecutor (determined by the penalty of 50 euros for each hour not connected for each slot machine) were then reduced, with the sentence of 17 February 2012 and following a provision by the Prodi Government to 2 billion and a half, a much smaller figure, probably even more reasonable, but certainly due. Now, in order to find resources to compensate for the lost revenue from the Imu - underlines the regional councilor of the Democratic Party - recourse has been made, among other things, to an accounting amnesty approved by the then Berlusconi government with the 2006 Budget: that is, the possibility of remedying the own position with the payment of up to 30% of the disputed amount. If this were the case - concludes his note Beppe Pagani - the 10 major slot machine companies would get away with the modest and ridiculous figure of 700 million».
