Florence court annuls four more ADM sanctions over cruise-ship gaming machines

The Tribunale di Firenze has annulled four further penalty orders issued by the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) over amusement machines without cash winnings installed on passenger ships. The four judgments, numbered 4421, 4423, 4430 and 4431 of 2026, were deposited on 28 September 2026.

The dispute arose from ADM inspections at Italian ports, specifically at Livorno, on board motor vessels and passenger ferries. Reportedly, officials contested the presence of amusement machines without cash winnings and issued penalty orders for alleged administrative violations.

The court based its reasoning on Article 5(3) of Decree Law 457/1997, a special provision that excludes the sanctions regime of Article 110 of the TULPS for activities carried out on board passenger ships navigating beyond territorial waters. The judge held that, on a vessel, the irregularity of a machine cannot be considered permanent but depends on the ship's position and in particular on whether it is inside national waters.

The court found that requiring the machines to be dismantled or removed on every entry into national waters would be unreasonable, and that adequate physical inhibition measures, such as switching the machines off or displaying an out-of-service notice, were sufficient to exclude any offence. It also held that the administration must prove the machines were actually used or made available to customers during the stop in national waters. In this case, that proof was absent: officials did not check the machines' historical memory, did not carry out technical test plays and did not observe passengers playing.

The rulings follow two similar judgments in August 2026, numbered 4184 and 4231 and dated 7 and 22 August 2026 respectively, in which the Tribunale di Firenze annulled the first two penalty orders. The shipowner and the machine operator were represented by Studio Legale Ripamonti, avvocati Marco and Riccardo Ripamonti. Marco Ripamonti said: "Si consolida, con queste Sentenze, un importante orientamento giurisprudenziale a tutela di armatori di navi e gestori di apparecchi da intrattenimento".