New Asgi Italia criticises proposed €1,000 fee per amusement machine
Regulation2 min read
In brief
- New Asgi Italia president Vanni Ferro criticised the regularisation procedure for amusement machines in the 2027 budget bill.
- Article 24 would require €1,000 per machine plus a new self-certification, according to Ferro.
- The state estimates about €15m in revenue; Ferro said that estimate could be overly optimistic.
The statement comes from Vanni Ferro, who heads New Asgi Italia, in a note. In his view, the 2027 budget law brings back into focus a long-standing difficulty for operators of entertainment without cash prizes: regularising the machines covered by article 110, paragraph 7, of the TULPS.
Ferro said article 24 of the bill provides for a payment of €1,000 for each machine concerned. He said the payment would come with a new self-certification of conformity. According to Ferro, the state estimates that the measure would raise about €15m.
Ferro gave examples of the cost: €10,000 for an arcade with 10 affected machines, €20,000 for 20 machines and €30,000 for 30 machines. He said the payment would not appear to secure a definitive regularisation. He added that the owner would be asked to take personal responsibility for the machine's technical conformity through the new self-certification.
Ferro said the difficulties date back to 2021, when new provisions for amusement machines without cash prizes were introduced. He said certification of older machines has been particularly problematic. He also said that the required technical documentation is often hard to find, including for software and source code from companies that have since ceased trading.
Ferro urged careful thought about the forecast of roughly €15m in additional revenue for the state. He said the forecast risks being too optimistic if it presumes that every potentially affected machine can actually take part in the procedure. Given high costs and legal guarantees seen as insufficient, he said, some operators could choose to scrap their machines instead of regularising them.
Ferro said family arcade operators are not asking to be exempted from checks or safety obligations. He said the association has prepared a motion calling for an overall revision of the current rules. As a fallback, he said the association asks that electromechanical machines put into operation before 1 June 2021 and already holding a provisional authorisation have it converted to a definitive one. He said this would be done on a simple request from the owner, without further technical or documentary obligations or additional cost to the operator.