Italy legal again for online bingo
Online bingo in Italy is legal again, for now, after being suspended last month when the Administrative Court of the Lazio region ruled that the approval of the decrees regulating online bingo were found not compliant with the formalities required by Italian law.
However the Administrative Court of Appeal has ordered the temporary suspension of the decision, so online gaming providers can continue to offer the game until a final verdict has been reached after the hearing on March 23.
Giulio Coraggio, a gaming lawyer at the Italian arm of law firm Lovells,
said: “The online bingo decree has been the subject of considerable complaints from minor bingo operators, which risk to lose a considerable number of players to the benefit of major operators like Gioco Digitale, that in the first months of 2010 raised more than €6m through the offer of online bingo."
He added: "Equally, major bingo operators have already borne substantial investments for the launch of online bingo and cannot afford to lose them.”’
As it is Europe's biggest egaming market, Italy is of vital importance to continued sales growth and this will be good news to many operators seeking to capitalise on investments made in the online bingo site offering there.
These include Playtech, looking to expand further following its purchase of UK bingo provider Virtue Fusion last month; Bwin, which bought Gioco Digitale in September 2009; Partygaming, which acquired Cashcade in July 2009; and Virgin Games, to enable them to capitalise on Virgin's strong
brand presence in Italy.
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