The Judiciary Committee expresses its opinion on the Dignity decree, with an observation on gaming, the work of the others in the advisory office.
The responsible commitees consider the opportunity to reconsider, in Article 9, paragraph 1, the provision for the salvation of restrictions on advertising (of gaming), provided by current legislation, as incompatible with the general prohibition introduced by the same decree-law". This is the observation expressed by the Judiciary Committee of the Chamber, expressing its favorable opinion, for the parts of its jurisdiction, on the Dignity decree, which in Article 9, in fact, completely prohibits gaming advertising, without prejudice to the provisions already provided by the 2016 Budget Law.
The commission considers, in premise, that "in Article 9, paragraph 1, without prejudice to the restrictions already in force, it is provided: the ban of any form of advertising, even indirect, of games or bets, made in any way and on any media; for the current advertising agreements at July, the 14th, 2018 the previous legislation will continue to be applied until their expiration date, and in any case for no more than one year from the same date; starting from January, the 1st, 2019, the prohibition to advertise games and bets is extended to sponsorships too” and that "the provision for the salvation of the restrictions on advertising provided for by the law in force would seem to presuppose the lawfulness of the advertising message of games and bets, incompatible with the general prohibition introduced by the same decree-law".
THE COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS - Also the speaker on the Committee on Costitutional Affairs, Federica Dieni (M5S), believes that "as regards the formulation of paragraph 1, one could consider the possibility of reconsidering the provision for the salvation of the current legislation (with particular reference to paragraphs 938 and 939 of article 1 of law No. 208 of 2015, which prohibit specific methods of advertising of games and bets), given that the same paragraph 1 introduces a general prohibition of any form of advertising, even indirect, made in any way and on any media”.
THE BUDGET COMMITTEE - The speaker Giuseppe Buompane underlines, with reference to the increase in the Preu, that "the valuations are consistent with the data and the key assumptions, in line, in their turn, with the elements provided in previous technical reports referred to similart cases. In any case, the reasons for which the related revenues are qualified by the summary statement should be clarified, as extra tax revenue rather than tax revenue (as reported in recent technical reports and in compliance with the classification in the State budget) the fact that the technical report - as it seems to be deduced from the calculation procedures followed - assumes, for Vlt machines, that the reduction of collection expected in 2019 has no effect in the first quarter should be confirmed".
THE CULTURE COMMITTEE - The deputy Anna Ascani (Pd) evaluates in a negative way the provision in question and regarding the provisions about gambling, recalls that "the previous Government has already spoken with measures to fight against gaming addiction and against advertising of games: it would have been better, then, to regulate gambling points of sale", announcing" the presentation of amendments in the responsible committees on these points.
THE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE - The deputy Deborah Bergamini (FI) points out that, in her opinion, the Government, which calls itself as Government for change, should more appropriately introduce measures to prohibit the practice of gambling rather than merely introducing the prohibition of any form of advertising related to games and bets. She wonders whether this limited intervention can be attributed to the fact that the revenue for the State budget deriving from games and bets amounts to about €10 billion.
She stresses that the ban on advertising "leads to a greater diffusion of illegal gaming, to the detriment of legal gaming, as proven by several studies.The prohibition is not provided for in the regulations of any European country for this reason too". She also points out that "the ban on advertising damages the fans and the football world, as the football clubs, according to data provided by the Football League, make gains amounting to €700 million”. She believes that "the Government should care about directing users to the use of legal platforms and not to the black market", also recalling that "the slot machine sector, despite no advertising, exceeds the 50% of gaming market"and finally underlines how "an organic regulatory intervention is needed, concretely aiming to fight the phenomenon of gaming addiction, calling a round table with all the operators of the sector".
Luciano Pizzetti (Pd) believes that the ban on advertising of gambling and betting may actually feed the development of the illegal market and the phenomenon of money laundering. He also believes that an organic policy for fighting is appropriate and not the adoption of spot measures.
THE SOCIAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE - Massimo Enrico Baroni (M5S), speaker, notes that "it is necessary to consider the possibility of reconsidering the clause for the salvation of the current legislation against the introduction of a general prohibition of any form of advertising. The current law, that for the decree-law is explicitly without prejudice, in fact, in assuming the lawfulness of the advertising message of games and bets, doesn't seem compatible with the general prohibition introduced by the decree-law".
Giuditta Pini (Pd), in declaring to have carefully listened the report made by the deputy Baroni, considers the introduction of the ban on advertising for gambling to be positive, even if within a provision that deals with different topics. The prohibition appears in continuity with partial provisions adopted during the past legislature. Recalling in any case that the limitations may affect only a part of gambling in our country, calls on the Government to support the agreement reached in the Conferenza Stato-Regioni, also in order to complete the reduction process of the number of gaming rooms started in the past years.
Carlo Fidanza (FdI) notes that "against the very impressive title given by Article 9, in reality the ban on gaming advertising represents a very restrictive and penalizing intervention especially for sports clubs" and believes that "other measures should also be provided, aimed at fighting against the phenomenon of gaming addiction, such as the introduction of the identification card for all users and the respect of minimum distances for the location of gaming halls".
Vincenza Bruno Bossio (Pd) in agreeing with the observations made by colleagues Bergamini and Pizzetti, recalls that, on the subject of gaming addiction and the role of the mafia associations in this phenomenon, in the previous legislature a very articulate discussion took place.
Davide Gariglio (Pd) judges the rules of the article 9 don't live up to the measures announced by the Government for 'change' which "only introduce the ban on advertising in this provision". He points out that "in reality a much more severe regulatory intervention would be desirable, on the example of what the Piemonte region has done, which has introduced very restrictive limits and distances, which have led to the closure of more than 90 percent of the gambling premises"
Roberto Rosso (FI) highlights how "the provision in question contains contradictory elements for the fight against the phenomenon of gaming addiction".
According to Maria Teresa Bellucci (FdI), she thinks the choice to exclude some forms of gambling from the ban is wrong, and therefore announces the presentation of specific amendments.
Vito De Filippo, (Pd), recognizing that, even in the presence of a complex phenomenon, in the past ruling coalition on some occasions didn't have the courage needed to totally fulfill certain choices, expresses the fear that the ban introduced essentially represents "a spot able to stimulate several 'likes' without effectively affecting the phenomenon of addiction". In fact, he reminds us that "this prohibition doesn't apply to online gaming, which currently represents the most dangerous form of addiction".
According to Elena Carnevali (Pd) "the choice to include measures to fight against pathological gambling within an emergency measure should have led to the adoption of wider measures than the simple prohibition of advertising", recalling that "the previous government had already started a path for the drastic reduction of gaming devices".