AAMS steps up offshore crackdown
Financial institutions will be obliged to declare transactions involving blacklisted offshore sites.
Italian regulator AAMS is set to intensify its crackdown on unlicensed offshore operators by targeting financial institutions.
The regulatory authority, which began introducing licences for cash poker and casino in July, already has a ready-to-launch ‘blacklist’ of sites in place.
Its next step will be to order banks and financial institutions to provide information regarding transactions made between online gamblers and blacklisted sites.
Francesco Rodano, head of remote gaming at AAMS, told eGaming Review: “There are provisions in the primary [egaming] law explaining that we have to issue a decree to make this all effective, and because of that it is still some way off.
“However we are looking to put in place measures whereby financial institutions will have to tell us the names of players who are playing on offshore sites,” he added.
Meanwhile Fabrizio d’Aloia, chief executive of Italian-facing People’s Poker Network operator Microgame, explained his understanding of the measures.
“Italian authorities are currently finalising the names on the blacklist, and financial institutions must declare all money going through them from blacklisted companies,” he said.
The crackdown marks a serious attitude from the Italian regulator following issues faced by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission over suspended operator Full Tilt Poker (FTP).
Indeed according to more than one source FTP was just “weeks away” from securing a licence from AAMS at the point that Black Friday forced it to shut down its US operations, however it is believed that the operator would be among those named on the regulator’s blacklist.
It is now more than two months since the launch of cash poker and casino in Italy, and one of the first licensees for the new products – Ongame network member Gioco Digitale – is “very happy” with how things have gone so far.
Paolo di Feo, former Gioco Digitale CEO, continues to oversee its operations in his new role as bwin.party southern regional director, and he told eGaming Review that “We have seen an increase in the poker business, while of course there has been a shift from tournament to cash play from many players.
The split of players [between cash and tournaments] has been very similar to the rest of Europe, even though the dynamics are very different and the profile of the customers is very different,” added di Feo.