Italian gambling regulator AAMS has teamed up with the National Anti-Mafia Directorate to combat the profiteering of organised crime from the country’s rapidly growing gambling market.
According to a statement issued on Friday, AAMS and La Direzione Nazionale Antimafia (DNA) have signed a memorandum of understanding which will see the two state bodies exchange data, news and information “to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their activities to institutionally oppose and prevent the infiltration of crime into the gaming world.”
The Italian gambling regulator said the five-year agreement had been signed in response to the growing interest of organised crime in the country’s rapidly expanding gambling market, whose influence “is clear from numerous investigations initiated throughout Italy”.
Italians spent close to €80bn last year on casinos, online poker rooms and slot arcades last year - a 20-fold increase within ten years - with the mafia allegedly the main beneficiary alongside the Italian state. Giuseppe Pisanu, the head of Italy’s parliamentary anti-mafia commission, has suggested that for every euro in revenue the Italian government gets from gambling, the mafia takes at least eight. Italian organised crime organisations allegedly use fronting companies to obtain licences then launder drug money through the operations while falsifying records, depriving the state of tax revenues.
AAMS added: “This significant memorandum of understanding will then allow the State Monopoly [AAMS] to detect and report anomalies encountered in data collection on the gambling market and the Anti-Mafia Directorate to provide analysis and processing of data, news and information to the regional prosecutor offices.”
The new protocol follows Italy’s professional football league recently becoming embroiled in new match-fixing allegations. Around 75 Serie A matches played since 2009 are under investigation by Italian authorities, with the Camorra mafia among those suspected of involvement.
What a joke - they restrict access to large reputable companies and moan when this happens. What an complete joke of a country.