News

Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Italian Black List of unlicensed gaming sites

On 24 February, a law will enter into force in Italy that will oblige Internet access providers to block traffic from unlicensed betting operators. The unauthorized betting operators are listed on a “Black List”, the first version of which contains over 500 names of well-known and lesser know websites.

Italy’s Black List contains many known betting websites, like www.888.com, www.betfair.com, www.betonsports.com, www.ladbrokes.com, www.sportingbet.com or www.youbet.com

Italian internet access and service providers have received the Black List directly and if they continue to transmit information from any of these websites as from 24 February, they will be fined between 30,000 and 180,000 euros.

The Italian government insists that gambling is subject to strict government licensing policies and should apply to every form of gambling. Transactions with unauthorised gambling websites should therefore not be tolerated, according to a government statement.

The Italian law illustrates the control that governments can exercise on internet transaction. In many other countries online gaming is also limited to license holders, but countries fail in the enforcement.