Italy’s gaming regulator has updated its blacklist of unauthorised websites in the wake of this week’s long-awaited slots launch.
AAMS has added 91 casino and poker domains to its blacklist of sites since the last update on 19 Novermber, taking the total number of domains and subdomains to be filtered by Italian ISPs and made unavailable to Italian punters to 4, 300.
The blacklist was introduced six years ago to implement provisions of the Finance Act 2006, which established the regulatory framework for Italy’s online betting and gambling market, whereby operators were required to obtain a national licence issued from AAMS to continue targeting Italian consumers on a legal basis.
The blocks have however proved largely ineffectual in preventing Italian players from playing on sites which haven’t received authorisation from AAMS, as operators based in offshore jurisdictions such as Malta are easily able to circumvent these using new domains and redirects.
Italian authorities authorised the first online slots in Italy’s regulated dot.it gambling market this week, as they look to bring the product group within the remit of the regulated market and arrest the ongoing decline in revenues from the sector.
Other products in the launch pipeline include exchange betting, fast-fold poker and virtual betting, as well as an expanded range of game types and jackpots for online bingo.
Critics have however argued that the Italian government also needs to move to a gross profit tax for bingo and sports betting, allow operators to offer more sports betting markets and open up poker liquidity to make gambling on regulated sites more attractive to Italians.
According to a KPMG-authored report commissioned by industry lobby group the Remote Gambling Association, the current stakes tax makes it impossible for licensed operators to compete with the value available on offshore sites, leading to increasing numbers of Italians betting there instead of on AAMS-licensed sites. The RGA has argued this undermines Italy’s drive to protect consumers and collect tax revenues by regulating the online gambling sector.
