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Greece, Italy Celebrate Landmark Developments in Online Gaming

Posted on March 14th, 2011

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The latest news out of Greece and Italy, two of Europe’s bigger gambling destinations are nothing short of encouraging. Greece, for example, introduced in early 2011 a draft regulation that would seek to regulate online gambling establishments in the country. Already, Greece is the sixth biggest gambling market in the continent and further introduction of online gambling would also seek to strengthen its position as a gambling mecca for visitors and online patrons alike. Part of the bill’s thrust was to issue licenses with tenures between 15 and 50 years starting later this year, however the one snag with the proposal was the 6% taxation on turnover for online markets to which the industry loudly opposed. The latest revision of the measure has opted to choose 30% taxes on gross profits instead of turnovers making it more palatable for the local industry.

Discussions between the Greek Ministry and the lobby group Remote Gambling Association (RGA) was responsible for the new taxation rate although according to an RGA spokesperson who chose to remain anonymous, the 30% taxation rate was suggested by the Greek government and in itself is still higher than prevailing tax rates in other jurisdictions. The level of cooperation, according to the same spokesperson, reached up to the RGC commissioning KMPG Athens to provide a comprehensive report detailing the benefits of taxation on gross earnings versus turnovers. Still, RGA remains committed to lobbying for the proposed tax rates to go lower and be comparable with rates seen in other countries. As a benchmark for the Greek proposal, online gaming operators in Europe are required to pay 20% on gross sales for online ventures.

In Italy, news about the progress in online gambling in the country has been buzzing since the past week. March 10, 2011 marks the day Italy issued a gazette to document and enforce new regulations regarding online gambling policies opening up the market further so that more operators can offer cash games and online casino games. The awarding of new licenses as detailed by the Italian regulator AAMS via the “Comunitaria” decree also called for the regulation of license issuances and upgrading of existing licenses based on the revised policies. As a requirement prior being passed into law, the decree will be published in the Italian Official Journal afterwards, casinos are expected to go online in Italy within the year.

Italy has played an integral part in the online gambling industry in Europe. It is the first country in the mainland to approve licensing private online gambling operators as early as three years ago paving the way for other countries to adopt the same measures. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the Italian gaming industry is one of the largest, thriving, and most lucrative markets in Europe. It also did not come without birth pains as during those times, the Italian government was limited in bringing all online gambling products due to regulatory constraint and litigation of pending cases related to online gambling operations.

Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association, said, “The reason for the European online gambling landscape taking a country-wise structure rather that a single free market was because the EU was allowing the member countries to create regulatory regimes that required offshore operators to obtain licenses from them, even if the operators already possessed licenses from other EU approved jurisdictions.” Hawkswood indicated that this would pose a long-term problem as operators cross borders to operate in various countries duplicating licensing requirements each time a new territory is reached by a service.

Still, with the new regulations in place, Italy is expected to see a definite boom in gaming operations and revenues. The longer terms are expected to assure operators of their tenures paving the way for bigger investments given long-terms to recoup them. The Italian government hopes that this is enough to fuel more consumers to prefer companies operated out of Italy which will in turn lead to a surge in the Italian position in the European markets. Both countries have posted remarkable figures from their online gambling industries.