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The Italian betting shop tender which seemed to be close to a turning point, is now further delayed. This could be good news during a phase that is still transitional.
The pending negotiations with local municipalities
I had discussed about the upcoming meeting between the Italian Government and local municipalities which had to find an agreement as to the national rules on the distance of betting/gaming locations and sensitive places (e.g. schools, churches, hospitals) and their time of operation. This is an essential step for the launch of the tendering process for the award of
- 10,000 betting shop licenses and
- 5,000 betting corner licenses
which was meant to occur as part of a tendering process to be launched by last June 2016.
According to the press, the agreement has now been postponed and the relevant stakeholders will meet up in mid-September to continue the discussions.
The current proposal on the distances of betting shops/gaming halls
The proposal on the table from the Government is apparently to divide betting shops/gaming halls in two categories with only some of them obliged to abide with the distance limits from sensitive places required by local laws. However, this led to major objections from the local municipalities that don’t want to lose their possibility to limit the operation of any gaming location.
This is the backbone of the current negotiations. Indeed, the ability of each municipality to set its own rules has created a “puzzle” of inconsistent rules that represents a major obstacle for operators that do not have the certainty of being able to run the halls as initially planned. This is the reason why such agreement is necessary step for the launch of the betting shop tender.
Is such delay only a bad news?
This might not be a bad news for the current license holders as the tender will lead to a whole “resetting” of the Italian betting shop market. Indeed, all the current betting shop licenses will be terminated and the current license holders shall bid to keep the licenses that they have during a period when the had to bear substantial investments due to the full liberalization of sportsbetting and are bearing additional investments due to the new regulations on bets on virtual events.
It might be a bad news for operators that want to either increase their market share or enter in the market, but – considering the time necessary for the award of the licenses and the subsequent opening of shops – it would have been unlikely for them being ready before the beginning of the football season.
If the agreement is reached by the end of September, the tender is likely to be launched by the end of the year with new licenses to be awarded in the next 3/4 months.
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