Use part of the revenues from taxes on gaming and betting activities for interventions to combat and prevent pathological gambling by Local Authorities. It is one of the proposals put forward today by the Unified State-Regions Conference during the hearing on the Games Reorganization Scheme which took place in the Senate Finance Committee.
The issue of revenue sharing by entities is one of the issues on which politics should reflect, it was said by Massimiliano Maselli, Lazio councilor for social inclusion.
The issue of distances, it has been said, must today be considered in relation to the type of user. It's about looking at the numbers: today online gambling 'produces' collections of over 1,2 billion euros, more than physical gambling. Young people play online, and therefore the 500 meters from sensitive places make little sense. Particular attention should be paid to charging points.
The Conference produced a document on the Scheme published in recent weeks.
The highlighted points
In article 2 it is deemed appropriate to eliminate the terms "responsible gaming" and "safe gaming", not recognized by the scientific community, and that the term "gambling addiction", also contested in the scientific field, be replaced with "gambling pathological” or “gambling disorder”; in article 2, paragraph 1, point r) relating to the "refill sales point", chosen and contracted directly by the concessionaire, constitutes cases potentially in conflict with many regional regulations on the subject, in particular with the opening, recharging and closing of the gaming account. For example: Operators of gaming outlets are prohibited from giving credit to gamblers. Any form of facilitation, commercial promotion or frdelization of gambling is prohibited.
We also invite you to evaluate the contradictory nature of a top-up sales point that opens, tops up and closes gaming accounts, excluding the movement of sums; article 3 asks you to evaluate the maintenance of the advertising ban (which has recently led to important results with high sanctions to the META company, owner of the main social channels), with the elimination of letter 1 of the first paragraph;
4) in article 3, paragraph 1, it is proposed to eliminate the references to 'safe gaming' and 'responsible gaming'; in article 4, we invite you to evaluate the opportunity of replacing the wording "protection" with "protection" of health in the second paragraph in a manner corresponding to the constitutional provisions (art. 32) and the principles deriving from it; in article 5, the following is observed: despite the absence of specific competences regarding the concession system, in general what is already reported noted in the previous article: We invite you to carefully evaluate compliance with the principle of free competition and specifically with the general prohibition on agreements restrictive of competition (Article 101 TFEU).
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) aims to prevent restrictions and distortions of competition, such as abuses of dominant positions, anti-competitive agreements, as well as mergers and acquisitions, where they restrict competition. State aid is also prohibited as per article 6, c.6′. The Customs and Monopolies Agency issues the concession following the outcome of a public tender and subject to compliance with the requirements/conditions, to be provided for in the tender notice, including the commitment to adopt actions and measures to be implemented to counteract pathological gambling previously subjected to evaluation by the Agency; “
The involvement of the Regions and autonomous Provinces in the definition of the general lines of the measures to be implemented to combat pathological gambling is considered strategic; in article 12, we invite you to carefully evaluate the contents of the report concerning "The Fund for gambling 'pathological hazard' referred to in Resolution 30 December 2021, n.23l202llG of the Court of Auditors - Central Section for control over the management of State Administrations. See in particular Chapter IV of the report itself.
Please refer to what has already been explained with reference to health protection. The collection and processing of data is of fundamental importance, but this must also pursue the prevention of Gambling Disorder. For the purposes of health protection, the diffusion and development of the offer of public games should be limited and not strengthened;
Article 13 (Refill sales points) provides for the establishment of a register for the registration of the owners of ordinary or special resales of authorized monopoly products from the collection of public games, as well as! of the subjects who carry out the activity of top-up sales points holding authorization pursuant to articles 86 or BB of the TULPS, authorized, ...".
It would be appropriate for the Regions and autonomous Provinces to be able to access at least the indications of the locations of these top-up sales points as "places of the Jisica gaming network". Knowledge of the location is also necessary information for the definition of the distribution and territorial concentration criteria of the physical gaming networks and for the measures to combat pathological gaming in order to guarantee the best levels of safety for the protection of health.
