The gaming legal expert Cino Benelli explains the situation of ticket redemptions in Italy in the Gioconews.it panel organized at the EAG in London.
London - Italy in the spotlight, at the EAG in London, also as regards the so-called "Amusement" market: that is, that of pure entertainment, made up of videogames, pinball machines and foosball that everyone knows.
We talk about the panel organized by Gioconews.it entitled "Ticket redemptions: the future is at stake" and the legal gaming expert Cino Benelli explains the legislation in Italy, through his contribution.
The "ticket redemption" were introduced into Italian legislation by article 1, par. 475 of Law no. 228/2012 (the so-called "Giorgetti amendment"), which entered into force on January 1 st , 2013, and which defined these devices as "those, mechanical and electromechanical (...), which can be activated with money, with tokens or with other electronic payment instruments and which can distribute coupons directly and immediately after the game ends". As it is known, these are widely distributed devices in public and commercial establishments in Italy and they are subject to the tax on entertainment (in Italian “imposta sugli intrattenimenti” or "I.S.I."), which is periodically paid to the Revenue Agency by the sector’s operators. In reality, these machines have little to do with gambling, since they are devices of pure ability and do not pay out cash winnings. They distribute simple prizes, generally consisting in objects of modest value.
Even though more than seven years have passed since the entry into force of Law no. 228/2012 (January 1 st , 2013), the Italian State, through the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Customs Agency, has not yet issued the "technical rules" which should allow production, import, distribution, management and installation of the "ticket redemption". Such "technical rules" should have been adopted by April 1 st , 2013, since Law no. 228/2012 expressly provided for their issue "within three months of the entry into force of this provision" (which, as mentioned, occurred on January 1 st , 2013). In fact, the Italian State has only transmitted to the European Commission (with notification no. 2016/211/I of May 9, 2016, carried out pursuant to Directive 2015/1535 / EU) a simple draft of technical regulations, which was not followed by the issue of regulatory acts by the national Administration. Such project also provides for an excessive and disproportionate regulation that does not take into account the current features of the "ticket redemption", nor the provisions of Directive 2006/123/EC (the so-called "Bolkestein Directive"). In fact, being outside of the gambling sector, these machines could not be subject to a prior authorization regime or, in any case, to the same rules and penalties established by the Legislator in relation to slot machines and video lotteries.
The Italian State, with Decree-Law no. 4 of 2019, converted into Law no. 26 of 2019, decided to provide for the same treatment - consisting, in particular, in a pecuniary administrative penalty from € 5.000 to € 50.000 for each machine and from thirty to sixty days of forced business closure - both for those who produce, distribute, install or make available to the public such "ticket redemption", as well as for those who produce, distribute, install or make available to the public illegal gambling machines. Such provision has irrationally placed on the same level some completely different devices, both in relation to their features and to their dangerousness. Although the central Authorities seem to consider - without expressly declaring it - the diffusion of the "ticket redemption" devices as prohibited, in the absence of the aforementioned technical rules (as we have seen, not yet established by the Financial Administration although more than seven years have passed since the entry into force of Law No. 228/2012), some regional Administrations (for example, the regions of Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont and Basilicata) and local Administrations (for example, the Municipality of Prato), on the assumption of the lawfulness of the “ticket redemption” and, in any case, of their tolerated placing in public and commercial establishments, have decided to forbid their use only by persons under the age of 18. In reality, if such devices were actually to be considered illegal, it would make no sense to provide for the ban of their use by persons under the age of 18 and, consequently, the question arises as to whether the "ticket redemption" machines can really be considered currently prohibited by Italian law. In truth, in the absence of serious and reliable scientific studies, it is not reasonable to consider these machines as unsafe for the consumers’ health and for persons under the age of 18. So much so that Article 5 of Decree-Law no. 158/2012, converted into Law no. 189/2012 (the so-called "Balduzzi Decree") has expressly defined gambling disorder as a compulsive syndrome or addiction from game with cash winnings and, therefore, not from "ticket redemption" machines.