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The long awaited call for tenders for the award of new Italian licenses on videolotteries and AWPs has finally been launched. Entities applying for a license shall submit their application by the 10th of October 2011.
The requirements and obligations prescribed by the call for tenders are quite stringent. Applying entities shall:
- be gaming and network operators based in a country of the European Economic Area – this requirement does not prevent the participation to the application procedure of non-gaming companies if they set up a JV with a gaming operator therefore for instance media and telecom companies might tender for the license;
- have accrued (singularity or through the different companies that are part of the JV) during 2009-2010 a minimum turnover of € 30 M of which at least € 10 M as gaming operator and at least € 15 M as network operator; and
- have the capability of managing at least 2,500 through a technical infrastructure located in any country of the European Economic Area;
Licensees shall pay € 100 per AWP that shall be at least 5,000 and € 15,000 per VLT that shall be at least 350 and comply with very stringent technical requirements. Even if the cost and the investments required for the licenses are considerable, these can be justified by the turnover of a market that just in the month of July 2011 generated a turnover of € 3,504 M of which € 1,150 M collected through VLTs (that are still in a start-up phase) and a turnover Jan-Jun 2011 of € 20,422 M of which € 5,377 M collected through VLTs.
There is no so much time for new entrants in the market to plan their future steps as the deadline for the filing of the license application is upcoming. The possibility to apply for a license through non-Italian entities and by means of JVs might create some interesting opportunities for also non-gaming operators and non-Italian entities.
Do you want to know more about the application proceeding? Feel free to contact me, Giulio Coraggio.
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