Live poker tournaments have been recently very successful in Italy.  Italians love playing poker, but most of them cannot afford to reach every week-end one of the 4 casinos that are currently open in Italy. Consequently, poker clubs have been arranging a number of very popular poker tournaments. However, life has never been easy for poker clubs! L…

As anticipated in my previous post , I have spoken today at a very interesting conference at ENADA Roma 2009,  the international fair on amusement and gaming machines.  The topic of the conference was about videolotteries (VLT) that are expected to be launched on the Italian market by the end of the year. The main…

The Italian gaming authority has issued the decree setting the terms of the call for tenders relating to the assignment of the new licenses concerning the setting up and the management of the network connecting the NewSlots (the only type of slot machines which can be placed outside of casinos) and Videolotteries.   The current licenses will…

The Italian Gaming Authority has launched the call for tenders on the so called "instant lotteries". Instant lotteries include "paper scratch cards" that can now be purchased in almost any tabacco shop in Italy (even though they can be sold also abroad) and "online scratch cards" which are accessible on the websites of any licensees. Players scartching the paper or…

The recent decision of the European Court of Justice (see  Landmark Decision of the ECJ on European gaming monopolies ) in the Bwin vs. Santa Casa dispute might have considerable side effects on the online gaming business. The court held that overriding reasons in the public interest justify limitations set forth by local gaming laws…