Italian lawyer urges ADM to consult operators on gambling controls
Regulation2 min read
In brief
- Lawyer Daniela Agnello urged ADM to engage with operators at Sigma World 2026 in Rome.
- Agnello said physical-gambling concessions are extended until 2029 under the new Budget Law.
- Oia Services chief executive Carmelo Mazza called for stable, clear rules.
Lawyer Daniela Agnello, founder of Studio legale Agnello, called on Italy's Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) to take part in industry events and engage with licensed operators. She spoke on a panel about the Italian gambling market at Sigma World 2026 in Rome. Agnello said many ADM controls come close to a presumption of guilt.
Agnello said concessions for physical gambling have been under extension since 2016 and will now run until 2029, according to the new Budget Law. She said the agency has no answers on this and suggested it may want to move to an authorisation system without saying so. Agnello also said the Court of Justice of the European Union had criticised the earlier concession tenders as too favourable to companies already established in the Italian market. She questioned whether rules on minimum distances from sensitive sites and on permitted hours should differ from one municipality to another.
Carmelo Mazza, chief executive of Oia Services, said certainty of rules is also fundamental for his company. Mazza said certainty means stability and clarity. On clarity, he said he had seen a rule whose literal reading seemed clear being completely overturned. On stability, he said operators who took an online concession last year entered under rules that have already changed. Mazza said it is often not ADM's fault, pointing to other regulators and the legislator. He said the decree on odds errors was issued this year, while his first meeting as a gaming consultant 19 years ago was about that subject.