The Italian gaming market is booming. It was only a few years ago that the Italian gaming and gambling activities were limited to four Casinos. Today, the Italian gaming industry is one of the biggest in Europe. Last summer the AAMS (Italian Gaming Authority), together with the Government and involved Ministries, produced new legislation for regulating and dealing with game addiction pathologies and compulsive gaming.
AWP machines are placed in thousands of corner shops and bars, €40bln of the total balance of about €71billion in 2011 was spent on AWP and VLT and only €2.5bln on gambling (casino). The total numbers of AWP’s and VLT’s count up to respectively 364.000 and 35.000 installed machines/systems.
Employment
This big gaming market also means a lot of work in the area: 5.000 companies employ 120.000 people; 10 licensees connected with AWP, 200 for Bingo and around 40 for the online gaming market. Gambling in Italy is mainly available in bars (60.000), betting and corner shops (4.000), clubs (4.000), restaurants (2.200), amusement arcades (1.500), Bingo halls (220), Hotels (450) and lotto shops (500).
Responsible gaming
Due to these important numbers, AAMS (Italian Gaming Authority), together with the Government, the Ministries of Health, Interior (Home Office), Economy and Finance, went into the problem of game addiction pathologies and compulsive gaming. They drew up new legislation to regulate and deal with it and encourage responsible gaming. The legislation states that campaigns must be arranged to inform people and guidance must be available to help people to overcome addiction. They want international campaigns emphasizing the importance of playing legal games and national ones to inform students about the risks and pathologies related to gambling addiction. The real introduction probably needs Guide Lines and, up to now, it is not evident in the market.
NMi and G4
In many parts of the world the gambling industry is being urged to develop responsible gaming programs to minimize the impact of gambling abuse on individuals and communities. NMi and G4 have joined forces in the field of responsible gaming. By certifying responsible gaming we offer the opportunity for responsible organizations to raise their profile. Further information can be found on our website.
