Il gioco d’azzardo has very ancient origins, dating back to the dawn of the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, obviously, the ways of playing have changed, and with them also the need to precisely regulate a sector that interests millions of people in the world. As far as the European territory is concerned, each member country legislates this billion-euro business autonomously, some in a more rigid and efficient way, others certainly less so. In this article we will do the overview of the situation, analyzing United Kingdom, France and Italy.
Gambling: United Kingdom
Despite its recent exit from the European Community, the gambling situation in UK must be considered, since it represents the largest market. Its legislation in this regard, it can be taken as a term of comparison for other countries, because precise and efficient. The activities are regulated by the “Gambling Act of 2005”, which identified in the “UK Gambling Commission” the body to which the management of the sector is entrusted.
The latest changes to the regulations require that each operator must obtain from the “Gambling Commission” the gaming license, whatever activity we are talking about, whether traditional offline or online. In other words, this body checks that operators in the sector fully comply with the regulations, offering consumer protection on the other hand. The legislation of the United Kingdom is universally recognized as one of the most mature in Europe. The model adopted could therefore be an inspiration to other nations, for three specific factors: transparency, technical standards, player protection.
The situation in France
We continue this European journey on gambling regulations with the Francia, which as is well known invented the game of roulette in the 17th century. The French industry can be considered one of the largest in the old continent, and many of its casinos are famous all over the world. Although gambling is legal in France, and land-based operators can provide a wide range of gaming activities, including sports betting and racing, The government has not authorized online casinos.
In this situation it is clear how the pressure exerted by traditional companies, in not wanting competition on the Web, is making itself felt. In the country, the body responsible for supervising the sector is ARJEL, which regulates the services of operators by issuing licenses. A large part of these are those for poker, sports activities and horse racing betting. Their duration is 5 years.
Italian legislation
In Italy in recent years they are being done giant steps to regulate the gambling sector, although even in our country every now and then “missteps” are made. In any case, the Dignity Decree of 2018 provided a major positive contribution. After all, effective regulation was absolutely necessary, especially considering that we are talking about a market of around 10 billion euros. The body responsible for monitoring compliance with industry regulations is AAMS. Among its main tasks is to certify the various gaming platforms.
This last aspect is to be considered of vital importance for the consumer. Through a AAMS logo, place directly on the home page of the portals in fact, the player can easily identify whether these are legal, e have fun with vlt slots with complete peace of mind. On the contrary, in the absence of such certification, it is advisable to immediately move away from the site, because there is certainly criminal management behind it, and the risk of losing your money is very high. As anticipated, in our country there is still a lot to do to perfectly regulate the gambling sector.
While on the one hand the work carried out by the Government to certify legal platforms has produced good results, on the other hand There is still a lot of confusion about the forms of sponsorship that market operators can adopt. Initially, in fact, a total ban was imposed on the latter to produce gambling advertising. Only later was the situation scaled down, allowing in some areas correct information for the consumer.
Article published on May 4, 2020 - 11:22 pm