Italian regulator resigns
Raffaele Ferrara steps down " said to have asked to be reassigned to different department of Ministry of Finance.
The Director General of the Italian gambling regulator Amministrazione autonoma dei monopoli di Stato (AAMS) Raffaele Ferrara has resigned from his role, sources in Italy have confirmed to eGaming Review, amid reports that he has requested to be moved to a different department within the country’s Ministry of Finance.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that a number of operators had complained about Ferrara’s management of AAMS, though it is unclear whether this is linked to his decision to step down.
Ferrara leaves after almost four years with AAMS, overseeing the expansion of the Italian egaming market including the regulation of new products such as cash poker and casino games, with a ministerial decree for the legalisation of exchange betting approved by the European Commission late last month. AAMS is yet to make an official announcement on Ferrara’s departure or replacement, and a spokesman for the regulator declined to comment when contacted by eGR.
His tenure as director general also saw the audit department (Corte dei Conti) of the Italian government launch a 2.5bn legal claim against Italy’s 10 gaming machine operators over their failure to launch, and then connect their machines, to a central monitoring network for all video lottery terminals (VLTs) in order to accurately declare the taxable amount each firm should pay.
Ferrara’s predecessor Giorgio Tino, who stepped down in July 2008, was hit with a 4.8m fine, while Antonio Tagliaferri, director of games at AAMS, was handed a 2.6m penalty, in both cases for their alleged failure to ensure operators complied with the regulatory terms set out in 2007. Tagliaferri, while appealing the fine, continues to hold his role with the regulator.
Before his departure Ferrara spoke to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, discussing the possibility of a rumoured increase in tax on gambling operations, in order to raise funds to help rebuild the Emilia Romagna region, which was hit by earthquakes last week.
“The games are already taxed; I would be very careful in assessing possible new taxes on gambling, as the industry is very finely balanced,” Ferrara said.
“A 6% gross win margin is higher than in many other markets, and this could further damage a sports betting industry which is already in crisis,” he added. Sports betting has seen rapid decline in Italy, with AAMS’ figures for April showing that amounts wagered were down 29.1% year-on-year, and down 27.8% for the year to date, compared to the first four months of 2011.