Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli de Stato (AAMS), the Italian Regulator Organization, placed itself in the legal spotlight when it started requiring that ISPS block online gambling sites and continues to remain in the spotlight as it ignores an order by the Court of Rome to lift its ban on Astrabet, an online gambling site, that filed suit against the AAMS.

Astrabet sought legal relief in Italian courts on the grounds that when the AAMS issued the decree that ISPS must block online gambling sites, due process had not properly been followed. On April 10, the Courts agreed with Astrabet and ordered that the ISPS lift the ban on Astrabet.

When the AAMS continued to require that ISPS block Astrabet, Astrabet went back to the Courts claiming that the AAMS acted in contravention of the Court’s order and announced the company’s intentions to attempt further litigation against the AAMS in order to compel the organization to comply with the Court order.

European operators and licensing authorities were quite alarmed when the AAMS initially made its decree, which essentially ordered ISPS to block hundreds of specific online gambling sites. In Malta, the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, condemned the decree as it affected large numbers of its licensees. Additionally, there have been several large and powerful international gambling groups threatening to take further legal action against the AAMS.

Not wanting to lose any time on the matter, Astrabet took the lead in bringing legal action against the AAMS and it is believed that, by doing, so, they may have set an important legal precedent because of the successful outcome of their legal action. Referring to the non-compliance of the AAMS, an Astrabet company spokesman said: "This is a very serious offence. AAMS is disobeying a Court Order issued in the Court of Rome on 10 April and we will be launching further litigation to enforce compliance."

Nearing the end of last week, the AAMS presented a 'reclamo' or appeal of the Court’s decision and asked the judge presiding over the case to suspend his decision about the ISPS blockade. While the judge did accept the appeal, he did not accept the request for a suspension of the ruling. The next hearing is set for May 29th. Astrabet will undoubtedly argue that since the judge did not accept the AAMS request for a suspension, the Italian market should no longer be blocked from having access to Astrabet.

Once the March 28th hearing has been finalized, several important points in favor of the Maltese licensing position that were established by the judge’s ruling will be reported upon. Giorgio Tino, the direttore generale of AAMS has not yet responded to requests for comments on the matter.

Posted on: May 10, 2006

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