Italian Gaming Authority Emphasizes Need for Enhanced Training and Compliance in Growing Online Sector
ROME – The Italian Agency for Customs and Monopolies (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli) is intensifying its efforts to ensure compliance with regulations protecting legal gaming, particularly in the rapidly expanding online sector. With a significant increase in online gaming sites in recent years, the agency is prioritizing thorough oversight, with a primary focus on safeguarding minors.
Elisabetta Poso, Director of the Entertainment Devices Office at the Agency for Customs and Monopolies, highlighted the importance of comprehensive training for gaming operators during the “Behind the Scenes” event, a remote training initiative for gaming professionals organized by Codere Network. While operators possess expertise in technical and commercial management, Poso emphasized the necessity of engaging external professionals, especially in the areas of psychology and behavioral science, to enhance their training.
“The role of the Agency for Customs and Monopolies is to verify compliance with the rules protecting legal gaming by licensees, also because in recent years online sites have increased considerably, so a thorough check is necessary, primarily to protect minors,” Poso stated.
Poso also noted the agency’s close collaboration with law enforcement. Severe penalties are in place for non-compliance, ranging from fines to license revocation and even business closure.
Addressing the challenges of online gaming, Poso explained, “In online gaming, it is technically impossible to access if you are not of legal age. This is a safeguard that does not have the same effectiveness in physical gaming locations. For this reason, the Agency’s activity is also repressive: it identifies and obscures illegal sites and works to guarantee the integrity of the concession system.”
Alejandro Pascual, Regional Manager Europe & Country Manager Codere Italia, opened the event by emphasizing the profound changes the sector has undergone since 2016. He noted the impact of increasingly stringent restrictions on retail operations, including limitations on hours, distances, and advertising, while the online sector has experienced substantial growth, becoming a structural component of the industry.
Pascual also addressed the issue of illegal gaming, stating that “even in contexts where gambling is illegal, people continue to gamble, often in clandestine and dangerous environments. Governments must protect vulnerable subjects without compressing individual freedoms. It is necessary to put effective tools at the disposal of those who work every day in the sector.”
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