According to a recent article in “Poker News”, the Italian government has decided to take an entirely new approach toward online gambling. Instead of following the strict anti-online gambling policy it had in the past, which included blockades of online gambling sites, Italian authorities have instead decided to initiate a policy of regulation and taxation of the online gambling industry, a policy similar to that of the United Kingdom. The brief history of the Italian government’s relationship with the online gambling industry is rather interesting. Originally, the country attempted to ban all 600 plus IP addresses of online gaming sites. Just a few days later, in an attempt to get in on some of the action, Italian authorities then attempted to establish an exclusive relationship with an online poker room. In the latest chapter of the Italian online gambling saga, the Italian government is moving toward regulation of the industry and, by January 2007, citizens of Italy should be able to gamble online legally. Public sports betting and bingo parlors will also be available online. As a result of the new legislation, all 'ability based and fixed betting activities' will be regulated. When it comes to how the entities that do business in Italy are regulated, the Italian plan closely follows he U.K. example in that the government will make a three percent tax on any gaming revenues acquired by an online gaming company when it does business with Italian customers. It is still unclear whether Italy’s new approach towards online gambling will have any effect on the U.S. government approach to the industry. What is becoming clear is that the U.S. Senate is highly unlikely to pass the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act before takes its election recess starting at the end of this week regardless of whether the Act is a stand-alone bill, or attached to other legislation. A glance back in history demonstrates that post-election 'lame duck' sessions of Congress are typically reluctant to discuss any proposed legislation that has a lot of complex issues involved or strong opposition. Posted on: October 8, 2006
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