Bari appeal court annuls €20,000 Balduzzi decree fine

The Corte d'Appello di Bari, Prima Sezione Civile, upheld an appeal by the owner of a betting-shop affiliate and annulled a €20,000 fine issued by the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) for an alleged breach of article 7, comma 3-quater, of decreto-legge 158/2012, converted into legge 189/2012 and known as the Balduzzi decree. The appeal court reversed the Tribunale di Bari's judgment of 12 October 2023, which had rejected the owner's opposition and confirmed the fine, and ordered the annulment of the ADM order.

The case stemmed from an inspection in December 2016 at a commercial premises, where officers found nine internet-connected computer stations accessible to the public and one customer using an online gambling platform with cash winnings. ADM contested the Balduzzi decree rules on making computer equipment available in commercial premises for access to online gambling platforms and imposed the €20,000 administrative fine. The owner, represented by lawyer Mariateresa Parrelli, appealed among other points against the equating of ordinary personal computers used for internet browsing with equipment specifically used for gambling.

The appeal court cited Constitutional Court ruling 104 of 10 July 2025, which declared unconstitutional article 7, comma 3-quater, of the Balduzzi decree and the related sanctions in article 1, comma 923, of legge 208/2015, in the part concerning the mere making available of equipment suitable for connecting to online gambling platforms. According to the judges, the provision pursued the legitimate aim of preventing gambling addiction but introduced an excessively broad prohibition applying without distinction to conduct with very different levels of harm, and did not distinguish between access to legal and illegal gambling or between equipment permanently and exclusively intended for gambling and computer tools ordinarily used for internet browsing. The court held this incompatible with the constitutional principles of reasonableness and proportionality and with protection of freedom of private economic initiative.

The court recalled that a declaration of constitutional illegitimacy has retroactive effect on legal relationships not yet definitively settled, and because the fine was still under judicial challenge the loss of the legal basis removed the ground for the ADM order. The court set aside the earlier Bari tribunal judgment, annulled the sanction and ordered full compensation of costs in both instances.

Parrelli said the Bari court had ruled against ADM's equating of ordinary personal computers with the article 110 TULPS equipment permanently intended for gambling collection. She cited the reasoning that the legislature had subjected deeply different conduct to the same sanction without distinguishing between equipment permanently intended for gambling and tools with the ordinary function of internet browsing, an equating incompatible with article 3 of the Constitution and with protection of private economic initiative under article 41. Reportedly, the ruling confirms the consequences of Constitutional Court ruling 104/2025 for pending proceedings on Balduzzi sanctions; it does not introduce a general authorisation to use computer stations for gambling collection, but restates that sanctions based on provisions declared unconstitutional cannot be maintained in pending relationships.