Italian operators left in limbo as legacy licences expire
Legal appeal lodged as firms including Betway, Mansion Group and SportPesa are served with surprise termination notice
High-profile Italian operators have taken legal action to remain in the country after the regulator (ADM) served up surprise licence termination notices in October.
Confusion has reigned supreme since ADM sought to cut off around 40 operators because their legacy nine-year community licences were due to expire before the end of this year.
Affected operators – including Mansion Group, SportPesa and Betway – were under the impression that all existing licences would expire at the same time – on the final day of 2022 – before a new licence tender process began in 2023.
However, a sudden change of policy threw the status quo into doubt when ADM asserted that these so-called community licences, deriving from an Italian law passed in 2009, were indeed set to end at the original expiration dates.
ADM consequently provided these operators with notice of termination at the beginning of October and potential disconnection from the Sogei system, which threatened downtime and disruption.
Sogei is the technology provider of ADM and all platforms of Italian-licensed operators must be connected to its servers to exchange data on transactions in real time.
EGR understands that some operators have filed an appeal claim in a Rome administrative court which allows them to operate as normal, at least until the next public hearing on 4 November. It is further understood that no operators have yet been forced to leave the market.
Other firms have sought to purchase or transfer to another licence to avoid the uncertainty of relying on the courts.
One legislative solution to have been proposed but not yet voted on would see operators continue to operate on their existing licence until 2022, albeit with an additional monthly fee of €2,800.
DLA Piper partner and Italian gaming lawyer Giulio Coraggio said: “The current scenario not only hinders the ability to implement a long-term strategy but also endangers the credibility of the whole Italian licensing regime, putting at risk the tax entries from a sector which considerably contributes to the budget of the state while serving to embolden operators without a local licence.”