Italy’s ADM set to issue more e-sports licences
Italy's online gaming and betting regulator, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), is set to issue further esports licences in order to channel the vertical to the regulated betting operators working in the country.
The move by ADM follows news of SNAI securing the first esports licence in Italy and is a result of esports’ increasing popularity and betting operators wanting to attract potential esports punters to their sites and cross-sell them into their ‘traditional’ sports betting offerings.
The first esports licences will cover the DOTA 2 and League of Legends franchises and will be regulated under the betting decree of July 2013 on sports and other events as identified by the licensees and verified by the ADM.
Valerie Peano, partner at the Rome-based law firm EGLA, said the 2013 decree placed “limitations on the types of bets that could be placed: the nature of the bets must not include any sort of violent, indecent or discriminating offer. Therefore, esports instigating violent behaviours and/or any kind of discrimination will not be accepted”.
Licensed operators will list the esports events they will be offering markets on and the ADM will add the events in the betting schedule along with the results in real-time through the national central system.
“As a general rule, licensees shall submit a technical report to detail (i) the esport event/s, (ii) the bet/s to be included within said customised betting program and (iii) the results certification modalities of the event through two different sources of information, one official (e.g. federations) as well as (iv) the licensee’s system description for relevant data registration and storage,” added Peano.
Licensees will also have to offer solutions to facilitate access to information by the regulator, in particular with regard to live events so it can carry out monitoring and inspection activities.
ADM will also maintain authority over betting integrity issues and the risks associated with irregular betting patterns.
Related articles: iGB Diary – eSports Summit