Italy Strengthens Measures Against Problem Gambling
During the General States meeting of the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM), Mario Lollobrigida, the director of gaming at ADM, outlined the planned interventions to strengthen the oversight of legal gambling and combat risky behaviors.
“We have placed the issue of responsible gambling at the heart of the Agency’s approach and that of all operators towards players, central to the decree on the reorganization of physical gambling, incorporating all the indications that were provided to us by the legislator in Law 111 of 2023,” Lollobrigida stated.
AI to Combat Gambling Addiction
“We have foreseen significant interventions, and in some cases, even invasive ones, compared to what gambling operators do today. These are measures in terms of training, controls, and subsequent audits of the activities of operators. But also the use of systems, as already planned for online gambling, based on artificial intelligence and behavioral studies. These tools serve to intervene on problematic gambling phenomena and intercept players before they become pathological,” he explained.
Lollobrigida emphasized that “studies show that a small percentage of the number of players are at risk of pathological or compulsive gambling. But it is clear that our task is to intercept them as much as possible, and as early as possible.”
Responsible Gambling vs. Illegal Gambling
The issue of responsible gambling is also close to the hearts of the operators themselves, who perfectly understand that only by working in this direction can they have a future, a long future. However, the more stringent constraints dictated by responsible gambling could favor illegal gambling. What is the Agency’s point of view?
“In my opinion, the risk is marginal. These are interventions that some operators, especially the larger ones, have already adopted. I do not believe that they are really instruments that would push players towards illegality. On the contrary,” he continued, “regulatory uncertainties push players towards illegal gambling. All these interventions are aimed at completing the process for the adoption of the decree on physical gambling, which will serve to establish certain rules on the territory. Today, instead, we are faced with uncertain rules, and it is precisely these that lead players towards illegal gambling.”
He further argued that “the ghettoization of gambling collection points through distances from sensitive places, provided for by some regional regulations, has in many cases completely eliminated legal gambling from city centers. And so legal gambling has become illegal, it has moved towards unauthorized physical centers or towards illegal online gambling.”
The Status of Physical Gambling Reorganization
Where are we with the reorganization of physical gambling?
“The work by the Agency has been completed. We have delivered the complete text to the Minister’s Cabinet. Now I think the issue is entirely political.”
“Certainly,” he concluded, “there will have to be a passage in the Unified Conference, which is the most important. Our text incorporates what is required by Law 111. Our technical task is finished. Now the ball passes to politics, which can accept the proposals of the MEF or advance alternative modifications to be evaluated.”
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