In view of the pre-Council of Ministers on Monday, March, the 11th, which sees the examination of the draft decree for the reorganization of online gaming on the agenda, here comes a new version of the same, containing some adjustments that take into account the analysis that have emerged after passing through the parliamentary commissions of the House and Senate.
First of all, it must be said that the "payment of a one-off fee, amounting to seven million for each concession requested" remains at the center of the future reorganization of online gaming, therefore leaving unchanged the amount considered perhaps too much also by the president of the Senate Finance Committee Massimo Garavaglia.
It is also specified that among the requirements and conditions that those who participate in the tender must comply with, there is "the activation by the concessionaire of a website with national top level domain directly managed by the same, subject to authorization from the Agency and depending on the specific technical rules established by it, connected to its concession and owned by it with the exclusion of the possibility for the concessionaire to make the related website available to third parties, even if belonging to the same corporate group, with any technical or interface solution. In the interests of transparency and attribution to the concessionaire of the website and apps referred to in paragraph 6, letter d), the concessionaire's logo or brand is required on the website. In the absence of the logo or brand of the concessionaire, the Agency will proceed with the suspension of the concession and, in case of multiple violations, may proceed with the revocation of the concession".
Each concessionaire then has the right "to allow access to each type of game covered by the concession, via a specific App whose technical characteristics are defined by the Agency".
It provides for the "payment, from the date of signing of the concession agreement, of an annual concession fee at three percent of the concessionaire's net margin, calculated by subtracting to the amount of winnings paid from the amount of the gaming collection and the related taxes and withdrawal fees or the concessionaire's payment for games under concession not subject to a tax levy calculated on the difference between collection and winnings, paid in two installments of the same amount by 16 January and 16 July of each year of concession".
Remote collection of public games is subject to the signing, also by electronic means, of a gaming account contract between the concessionaire and the player. Among the minimum terms of the gaming account contract outline sent to the Agency by the concessionaire during the participation in the public tender, and subsequently during any modification, and prepared by the concessionaire,for the certainty of the player's identification must be ensured "the opening of the gaming account only with the use of a valid identity car or other digital identification tool, even with second level security, approved in Italy, indicated by measure of the Director of the Agency". The "prohibition of splitting the sums constituting the balance of the gaming account in the management of individual gaming products or apps" must be guaranteed.
As for top-up points of sale, another "sensitive" issue for operators in the sector, the outline of the draft decree now provides that registration in the register is subject to the pre-payment to the Agency of an annual amount of €100 (instead of the €200 initially foreseen), as requested by the tobacconists category. But top-up operations carried out at top-up points of sale remain "allowed, within the overall weekly limit of €100, even in cash".
Also in this case, accepting the observations of the parliamentary commissions, there is a large part dedicated to the future tender for the Lotto.
"Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 3, to assure the protection of public interests in gaming collection activities, taking into account the proximity of the expiry of the relevant concession, the management of the automatic Lotto game service and other fixed-odds numbers games, and the related collection both through the network of concessionaires referred to in Article 12 of Law 2 August 1982, No. 528, and subsequent amendments, as well as Article 33, paragraph 1, of Law 23 December 1994, No. 724, and subsequent amendments, and remotely, is entrusted to the Agency under concession to a qualified company with previous experience in the management or gaming collection, with registered office in one of the States of the European Economic Area, with suitable requirements of moral, technical and economic reliability, chosen through an open, competitive and non-discriminatory selection procedure.
The procedure is launched under the following essential conditions: a) non-renewable concession period of nine years; b) selection based on the standard of the most economically advantageous offer and, as regards the price, forecast of upward offers compared to a opening bid of €1 billion; c) payment of the price indicated in the offer of the competitor who came first in the ranking in the amount of €500 million, at the time of the award, in the amount of €300 million at the time of the actual assumption of the gaming service by the successful tenderer in the year 2025, and the remaining amount in the year 2026, by 30 April; d) power for the successful tenderer concessionaire to use the telecommunications network for the provision, direct or indirect, of services other than the collection of the automated Lotto game and other fixed-odds numerical games, as long as they are consistent with the collection itself in the opinion of the Agency; e) fee for the concessionaire of 6 percent of the collection; f) obligation to technological update of the network system and gaming terminals, according to quality standards that guarantee maximum safety and reliability, according to the investment plan which is part of the technical offer; g) obligation for the concessionaire to make an annual payment to the treasury of the sums, in any case, not invested, according to the plan referred to in letter f); h) obligation for each competitor, upon participation in the selection procedure, to pay the Agency a sum equal to the amount of the payments referred to in paragraph 5, with the right to its refund exclusively for those other than the successful tenderer.
5. For the tender referred to in paragraph 4, the commission is made up of five members, of which at least the president and two members chosen among people of high professional qualification, including retired state magistrates or lawyers, and further members chosen among general management level executives of the Agency. The commission operates at the Agency, which ensures its secretary services with its ordinary budget allocations. Payments for members of the commission other than managers of the Agency are established by decree of the Minister
6. Taking into account the expiry in 2028 of the current concession for the operation of public games called national instant draw lotteries, even with remote participation, and for the related collection, and also taking into account the need, functional to public interests of the sector, to ensure the widest participation in the relevant award procedure, the Agency will publish specific prior information notices without delay, pursuant to Legislative Decree 31 March 2023, n. 36, to disclose the intention to launch the tender and collect useful information from the resulting market reaction. Therefore, the Agency in a reasonable timeframe in regard to the expiry of the current concession, launches the necessary selective procedure, whose minimum essential conditions concerning the useful market conditions that may be detected at the time, concern the following minimum parameters: a) component of the auction base, on upward offers, as part of a procedure based on the parameter of the most economically advantageous offer; b) technical evaluation parameters for the awarding of the concession under the procedure referred to in letter a); c) duration of the concession; d) fee for the concessionaire; f) average return values of the collection in winnings".
As regards prevention of pathological gaming, "promotion, communication and spreading messages for social purposes only, functional to the spread of safe and responsible gaming, for players protection, in particular the most vulnerable persons, and for preventing and opposing pathological gaming, which bear the indication of the logo or brand of the concessionaire promoting the message" is expected.
The word "gambling addiction" is replaced by the expression "pathological gambling".
The concessionaire "annually invests an amount of 0.2 percent of its net revenues, in any case not exceeding €1,000,000.00 per year, in information campaigns or in responsible communication initiatives on topics annually established by a government commission, after consulting the Observatory for the fight against the spread of gambling and the phenomenon of serious addiction established at the Ministry of Health".
Furthermore, for "further protection of players, especially the most vulnerable ones, the concessionaire can carry out, at its own expense and with the indication of its logo or brand, promotion, communication and spread campaigns of messages for socially oriented purposes only, to promote the prevention and fight against pathological gambling".
The establishment of the "permanent Council of public games authorized in Italy is confirmed, with the aim of monitoring the progress of gaming activities, including illegal and unauthorized ones, their effects on the health of players, as well as proposing measures to the Government suitable with the aim of opposing the development of pathological gambling. The organization and functioning of the Council, the number of its members, their designation as representatives of Government, Regions, local authorities, concessionaires, as well as national trade and consumer associations, also providing that the members are not entitled to compensation, attendance fees, reimbursement of expenses or other payments however named", are regulated with a regulation, adopted together with the Ministrer of Health and Minister for Sports and Youth