Daniela Agnello criticises ADM’s absence from SiGMA 2026 in Rome
Regulation2 min read
In brief
- She said ADM does not take part in panels or accept dialogue.
- She said no new physical betting tender has been held since 2016, with extensions instead.
Daniela Agnello, founder and lawyer of Studio Legale Agnello, criticised the absence of Italy's customs and monopolies agency ADM from SiGMA 2026 in Rome. She spoke on the panel "The Italian Market Compared with International Markets: Key Characteristics, Development and Innovation".
Agnello said she visited hall 3 of the event and came across the stand of the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), which made her question why the Italian regulator was not present. She said that since 1998 her counterpart had been first CONI, then AAMS, then ADM.
Agnello acknowledged the weight of the Italian market and the value of its regulatory framework, which she described as an international reference point in the fight against illegal gambling. She expressed concern about an approach that, in her view, risks focusing mainly on inspections and checks rather than on engagement with authorised operators. In her view, the event could have been an opportunity for dialogue with concessionaires, businesses and professionals in the sector. She said the agency does not take part in panels and does not accept dialogue.
To explain her position, she went back over the 1999 tender, which concerned the award of "mille concessioni". On the case law, Agnello drew on the Court of Justice of the European Union, naming the Gambelli judgment and the rulings that followed on the Italian betting system. She also mentioned the territorial restrictions of later procedures, including minimum distances from existing outlets, and read them as tools that ended up shielding the historic operators. Agnello summed up that the concession model is sound, while the way concessions were handed out favoured the holders already in place.
On the 2012 tender, known as the Monti tender, Agnello said it allowed foreign operators to enter but raised new problems. She named the shorter duration of the concessions and the provisions on the free transfer of the network and assets at the end of the concession.
Agnello said the most urgent issue is the reorganisation of physical gambling. She said no new tender has followed the 2012 tender and the expiry of the concessions in 2016, and that the sector has continued to operate through successive extensions. She added that a further extension has been announced in advance.
Agnello ended by asking whether the continued extensions and the lack of new tenders might point to a different intention on the part of the legislator, such as a move to an authorisation system. The report says the question was posed provocatively and did not indicate that any decision in that direction exists.