No tax increases on internet gambling in Italy, says AAMS chief

The Italian government is unlikely to make the same mistakes as that in France by over-taxing online gambling, it appears from statements this week by the new chief of regulator Amministrazione Autonoma Monopoli di Stato (AAMS).

New incumbent Luigi Magistro gave the assurance that there are no plans to introduce additional taxes on internet gambling when he attended the European Social and Economic Committee get-together in Brussels.

Magistro commented that sensible and reasonable levels of taxation were essential if operators in the Italian market were to remain motivated and competitive with unlicensed and illegal operators offering Web gambling to Italian gamblers from offshore bases.

The Italian government has done rather well out of the dedicated Italian online industry, which last year delivered a Euro 2.2 million proportion of the Euro 8 billion collected in general gambling tax revenues.

The energetic Italian executive is keen on introducing a thorough and definitive study on problem gambling in the Italian online sector, which he plans to personally oversee in order to develop a factual and accurate assessment of the issue and what needs to be done about it.

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