How to announced at the end of December, the PD presented to the Camera and in the Senate two questions to the Minister of Economy and Finance after the Guardia di Finanza discovered in the Municipality of Vicenza the presence of an ATM installed inside a gaming/betting room despite the regional law and the resolution of the City Council imposing precise distances from the so-called sensitive places.
Below is the text of the written question presented at Palazzo Madama by the senators Verini, Rojc, Verducci, Rossomando, Irto, Rando, Giacobbe, La Marca, Camusso, Furlan, Manca, Delrio, Malpezzi, Tajani, Losacco, Giorgis, Valente, Martella, Crisanti, Zscopio, Nicita, Alfieri, Mirabelli.
“To the Minister of Economy and Finance. - Given that:
on 27 December 2023 it was learned from some press outlets that as part of the general prevention and control activities of the territory, the soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza discovered in the municipality of Vicenza the presence of an ATM (Bancomat) machine installed in the interior of a gaming-betting room;
the regional law of 10 September 2019, n. 38, containing rules on the prevention and treatment of pathological gambling disorder (article 7, letter h) establishes a distance of no less than four hundred (400) meters between public places where it is possible to bet and play and ATMs. The same prevention measures and related sanctions are present in the municipal regulation, approved with resolution of the Vicenza City Council n. 29 of 4 June 2019, chapter III, article 9 – minimum distances from sensitive places;
the events described do not represent isolated cases, so much so that in May 2023, in the Rodigino, the Financial Police itself had detected similar circumstances,
you ask to know:
whether the Minister in question intends to adopt, within his jurisdiction, in order to guarantee safety, health and public order, as well as to effectively combat gambling disorder, initiatives aimed at ascertaining, in agreement with banking institutions, the possible presence of ATMs in the areas of relevance or proximity to places where games of chance are sold;
whether it intends to promptly remove, in compliance with the regulations in force, the ATM-Bancomat machines inside the gaming halls and betting shops and to significantly increase the number of checks at the gaming halls and betting shops, taking into account the growing increase in number of illegal conducts".
