Campania court upholds refusal of betting shop licence near Naples church

The Campania regional administrative court, Sezione Quinta, has rejected a challenge brought by a betting centre against the refusal by the Questura di Napoli to grant a new public-security licence for betting collection. The court upheld the police authority's denial, according to the ruling of 26 October 2026.

The premises are located about 100 metres from a church, below the 250-metre minimum distance set by Campania regional law no. 2 of 2020 and by the municipal regulation. The Questura refused the application on the basis of that distance, treating the reopening as a new opening subject to the regional restrictions.

The company held a licence under article 88 of the consolidated public-security law (TULPS), issued in March 2017 for the operation and collection of bets. In October 2022 the company's shares were transferred to new owners and a new legal representative was appointed. The company then entered an affiliation with a different concessionaire and in December 2022 obtained from the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli the title for betting collection at the same point of sale.

In April 2022 the Questura suspended the title for three months and in July of that year ordered its revocation. A new application for the public-security licence was submitted in January 2023.

The company argued that the activity should be considered as pre-existing the regional rules, since the premises had already been authorised and the company had not changed its legal identity, despite the transfer of shares and the change of concessionaire. It maintained that neither the change of representative nor that of concessionaire could turn an already authorised activity into a new opening.

The court found that argument unfounded, distinguishing between continuity of the company and continuity of the lawfully authorised activity. It cited article 13 of Campania regional law no. 2 of 2020, which subjects new openings to a minimum distance of 250 metres from sensitive locations, including places of worship. The rules protect activities already authorised before they took effect, under certain conditions, and provide for the transfer of ownership of pre-existing activities, but that safeguard does not give a premises a permanent exemption from the territorial restrictions, the court held.

According to the court, continuing an activity in derogation of the minimum distances requires continuity of the authorisation. In this case the revocation of the licence in July 2022 had already ended the legal basis for operating before the transfer of the company's shares, and the subsequent survival of the same company, premises and economic organisation was not enough to restore the exemption regime.

The court also examined the new relationship with the concessionaire and the title issued by the ADM under article 1, paragraph 643, of law no. 190 of 2014. It held that the concession-network title and the relationship with the new concessionaire do not replace the public-security licence and do not remove the obstacle created by the location restrictions.

The TAR Campania rejected the request to annul the Questura di Napoli's denial, confirming that the distance restrictions apply to the new licence application.