I love Italy. I've never actually been there, but I have read about their weird politics and met enough Italians to know it's a place I would enjoy to the fullest. What I especially enjoy about the Italians (besides their food) is their desire to thumb their nose at the rest of Europe just to see how Europe will react. Earlier this year Italy banned over 600 online gambling sites by blocking them at the Internet Service Provider level just because they wanted to. The sites protested and Italy didn't care. It turns out that Italy's plan all along was to then try to get a portion of the profits from a certain online entity, but we're going to ignore that bit because it didn't quite work out as planned. Later France gets in on the anti-offshore internet gambling legislation and Germany follows suit. Finally the United States jumps on the bandwagon (which they wanted to actually lead, but legalities and the slowness of Congress held them back a bit). Once all of this happens and the world seems to be following in Italy's footsteps, Italy decides to turn around. Why? Because they can. This is Italy, a country which defies logic or consistency, just look at the Fiat. Why would a country ban internet gambling one year and then legalize and regulate it the next? Are you shaking your head in wonder? Don't be, just accept it and enjoy your risotto. This coming January 1, 2007 it will be officially legal for Italian residents to gamble on the internet. In addition to internet gambling the new law opens the path for things like public sports betting and bingo parlors. Personally I would be bothered by that if I were Italian. Who wants an ugly bingo parlor in the middle of a beautiful Italian city square? Leave the bingo for the church hall where it belongs. The reason why Italy banned internet gambling is the same reason why the US is wreaking havoc to the industry and why Germany and France have banned it outright, economic protectionism. Italy thought it would be easier to ban online casinos and only allow the one, thus they would only have to make a deal, regulate, and watch one casino. Ingenious plan for the lazy bureaucrat, too bad it didn't work out. As money was their ultimate goal they did what Britain did, they gave in to reality and decided to move forward by regulating the entire industry. Some are saying that they decided on this system after seeing the British regulation working so well and being so stable. Excuse me for being a tad skeptical and asking the rather rude question - what do you want to bet that they will make more money from this method instead? The new Italian legislation regulates all 'ability based and fixed betting activities' which covers, well, everything. Fixed would be all games like slots, which means games of luck where the house odds are programmed into the game and ability based are all games like poker and blackjack where having skills and knowing the strategy helps one win. As their original plan was to ban everyone except one in order to make their lives easier, it shouldn't come as a surprise that this new legislation mirrors the British legislative plan. Why should the Italians come up with their own ideas politically anyhow? They have so many better things they could be doing with their time, like designing things and driving on their mopeds calling out "Ciao". One thing I really enjoyed about the new Italian legislation is the sheer greed of it. Any company choosing to accept Italian players will have to pay the government up to three percent tax on any gaming based revenues acquired by the company. My initial reaction to reading that was 'three percent of their entire revenue?' A thick question, perhaps, but then this is Italy we're dealing with here. I wouldn't put it past them. This means that come the beginning of January, Italy will be fair game to internet gambling advertising. Back in my past life I managed a group of internet casinos, part of my responsibilities were to handle all deposits and withdrawals. We didn't have a lot of Italian players, but the few we did have were good. This is the country where the mafia was created people, don't go thinking that a gold mine has opened up just because Italy is now on the online gambling map. In fact, if I were an internet casino catering to Italy I would double check all of the promotional terms and conditions before accepting their player's money. You may want to do a special fraud check on that several thousand dollar win as well. What is the image of the Italian gambling in the comfort of his home? When I think American I think fuzzy slippers and stained torn Champion sweats. Italians have more style than that. Perhaps some knock-off Dolce & Gabbana jeans with some fake Prada shoes and a nice crisp cotton plaid button down shirt. The real question is whether Italy's change of face reflects what is to come in the rest of the world. Perhaps Germany and the US will realize they would be better off regulating the industry rather than trying to keep people from playing. Notice that I kept France out of the equation, this is a country which likes to keep everything to themselves, hence I doubt they will change their mind – money or not. One would think that the local council would be happy to have internet gambling legalized rather than having to rely on the local bookie or land-based casino. Casinos are generally, in my opinion, over the top gaudy (and not in the good Spanish way) eye-sores. Better to have them on the internet, rather than making a spectacle out of our cities. Italy is taking a step in the right direction. It makes sense to regulate internet gambling. People will find a way to do it regardless, it's a personal choice issue on how people spend their own hard earned entertainment dollar, and it's really no ones right to tell people how to spend their money. It's certainly not the government's responsibility. How do you say 'Good for you' in Italian? Posted on: October 9, 2006
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