According to rumors, the draft legislative decree on the reorganization of online gaming which was included on the agenda of the pre-Council of Ministers on Monday 11 March provides some important changes to the already known text.
In any case the scheme has been modified will have to be sent to the Chambers for the expression of the opinion of the parliamentary commissions responsible for the subject matter and for the financial profiles, which will pronounce their opinions within 30 days from the date of transmission. However, only after this deadline has elapsed can the regulation be adopted.
The possibility of promotion, communication and dissemination of messages for social purposes only, functional to the dissemination of safe and responsible gaming, for the protection and protection of players, in particular the most vulnerable subjects, and to prevent and combat pathological gambling, which they report the indication of the dealer's logo or brand that promotes the message.
Requirements required for the awarding of the concession and the commitments envisaged for the concessionaire are determined by referring to the effective protection of the player's health, as well as the effective protection of public order and safety.
The concessionaire, subject to authorization from the Agency and compatibly with the specific technical rules established by it, will be able to activate a single website with a national top-level domain directly managed by the same, connected to its concession and owned by it with the exclusion of the possibility for the same dealer to make the aforementioned site available to third parties, even if they belong to the same corporate group, with any technical or interface solution. For the purposes of transparency and traceability to the concessionaire of the site and apps The dealer's logo or brand must be present. In the event of the absence of the concessionaire's logo or trademark, the Agency will proceed with the suspension of the concession and, in the event of multiple violations, may proceed with the forfeiture of the concession.
Stay there faculty for each concessionaire to allow access to each type of game covered by the concession, via a specific app whose technical characteristics will be defined by the Agency.
The concessionaire must pay, starting from the date of signing the concession agreement, a fee annual concession fee determined at 3% of the net margin of the concessionaire calculated by subtracting from the amount of the gaming collection the amount of the winnings paid and the related taxes and withdrawal quotas or the concessionaire's compensation for games under concession not subject to a tax levy calculated on the difference between the collection and the winnings paid, paid in two equal installments by January 16th and July 16th of each concession year.
The opening of the gaming account can only take place with the use of a valid identity document or other digital identification tool even with second level security, recognized in Italy, indicated by order of the Director of the Agency.
The prohibition on the use of a player's gaming account for the collection or intermediation of other people's bets remains, the non-productivity of the fruits of the gaming account for the player, as well as the gratuitousness of its use for the player, but it has been added the prohibition on splitting the sums constituting the gaming account balance in the management of individual gaming products or apps.
In the event of excessive onerousness arising as a result of significant and unforeseeable changes in the regulatory framework, in the event of the impossibility of reaching the agreement referred to in paragraph 1 in good faith, the concessionaire may ask the Agency to agree on an early expiry of the concession and the relevant consensual resolution of the agreement acceding to it. But only with legislative provisions can compensation be provided for the concessionaire to be determined according to principles of reasonableness and proportionality, to be paid based on the remaining unused period of the concession.
Registration in the PVR register will be subject to the prior payment to the Agency of an annual amount equal to 100 € and no more"with two hundred for the first year and one hundred and fifty euros for each of the following years".
The term "gambling addiction” has been replaced with “pathological gambling".
The concessionaire must annually invest a sum equal to 0,2 percent of its net revenues, in any case not exceeding 1.000.000,00 euros per year, in information campaigns or in responsible communication initiatives on topics established annually by a government commission, having consulted the Observatory for combating the spread of gambling and the phenomenon of serious addiction established at the Ministry of Health.
To further safeguard and protect players, especially the most vulnerable, the concessionaire can carry out, at its own expense and with the indication of its logo or brand, promotion, communication and dissemination campaigns of messages for social purposes only aimed at promoting the prevention and fight against pathological gambling.
It seems to have been included in the diagram the concession for the management of the gaming service of Lotto automated and other number games with fixed odds, and the related collection both through the dealer network and remotely, which will be entrusted under concession by the Agency to a qualified company with previous experience in gaming management or collection.
The procedure is announced under the following essential conditions:
- a) duration of the concession of nine years, non-renewable;
- b) selection based on the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer and, as regards the price component, forecast of upward offers compared to an auction base of 1 billion euro;
- c) payment of the price indicated in the competitor's offer first place in the ranking in the amount of 500 million euros, at the time of the award, to the extent of 300 million euros upon actual assumption of the service of the game by the successful tenderer in the year 2025, and in the residual amount in the year 2026, by 30 April;
- d) right for the successful concessionaire to use the telecommunications network for the provision, direct or indirect, of services other than the collection of gambling Lotto automated and other fixed-odds numerical games as long as they are compatible with the collection itself in the opinion of the Agency;
- e) premium for the concessionaire equal to 6 percent of the collection;
- f) obligation to technologically update the network system and gaming terminals according to quality standards that guarantee maximum safety and reliability, according to the investment plan which forms part of the technical offer;
- g) obligation for the concessionaire to make an annual payment to the treasury of the sums, in any case, not invested according to the plan referred to in letter f);
- h) obligation for each competitor, upon participation in the selection procedure, to pay the Agency a sum equal to the amount of the fees, with the right to its refund exclusively for those other than the successful tenderer.
Furthermore, taking into account the expiry in 2028 of the current concession for the operation of public games called national lotteries with instant extraction, even with remote participation, and for the related collection, and also taking into account the need, functional to the public interests of the sector, to ensure the widest participation in the related award procedure, the Agency will publish specific prior information notices, pursuant to Legislative Decree 31 March 2023, n. 36, to disclose the intention to announce the tender and collect useful information from the resulting market reaction. The Agency therefore, in a timely manner with respect to the expiry of the current concession, launches the necessary selective procedure whose minimum essential conditions, having regard to the useful market conditions that may be detected at the time, concern the following minimum parameters:
- a) component of the starting bid, on upward bids, as part of a procedure based on the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer;
- b) technical evaluation parameters for the awarding of the concession under the procedure referred to in letter a);
- c) duration of the concession;
- d) premium for the dealer;
- f) average values of return of the collection in winnings.
