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The black Wednesday for the Italian gaming market has now a second episode with seizure of additional gaming websites, companies and assets.
The Gaming Black Wednesday
I had reported in this post about the black Wednesday for the Italian gaming market with 50 arrested individuals and 45 Italian companies and 11 foreign entities seized together with 1,500 CTDs and 82 gaming websites.
This had been a massive initiative by Italian police authorities, but the concern of the public opinion was that such initiative would have remained isolated.
Gaming Black Wednesday-BIS!
Italian police authorities have now dis-attended negative expectations and performed a second round of actions. They now seized, among others, 21 companies and 31 Italian and foreign gaming sites for an aggregate value of around EUR 25 million.
Is there a wind of change?
The recent events have fueled comments on the press as to whether another “season” has started for the Italian gaming market. The peculiarity of Italy has always been the size of the black gaming market that in some instances was even larger than the licensed market. Criminal sanctions and tax related sanctions were preventing the offering of games without an Italian gaming license, but the enforcement of such provisions has often been missing.
The recent actions by the Italian police might show a different approach though.
What reaction by the Italian gaming market?
It might be a coincidence, but such actions take place just a few months before the beginning of a very “hot” season for the Italian gaming market. The bidding process for the whole betting shop licenses and for some of the main online gaming licenses might be an additional opportunity to push some operators, including CTDs, to change their model of business and “cure” their position.
Only 2,000 CTDs have cured their position this year following the process introduced by the Government, but the recent events might sound as a warning message that
Time has changed and operators shall catch up!
