Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) Review
Casinomeister's Verdict
I would rate the AAMS higher, but they have blocked www.casinomeister.com from our Italian visitors, which means our Italian members cannot use our arbitration service without a VPN. We are also a media partner with a number of companies that host conferences worldwide - we have a number of executives from Italian firms that subscribe to our newsletters who are not able to access our website. I have a suspicion that the AAMS is a black hole when it comes to addressing this issue. Time will tell.
5
Oversight
Transparency
History
Responsiveness
Infrastructure
Reliability
Address
Year Founded
Phone
Reliability
Website
Pros
-
The AAMS are resilient with their licensees, and they’re known for taking a very strict stance with licensees that are found to be breaking the terms of their license.
-
Licensees are held to high financial standards, so funds are usually safe in cases of insolvency.
-
The licensing body have a direct complaints team.
Cons
-
Only 200 licenses can be issued at any one time by the AAMS.
-
Non-Italian based operators may struggle to get a license.
Online gambling in Italy is complex; until recently, it was incredibly hard for operators to offer gambling services to Italian services – although today, there is some limited casino and sports betting online gambling facilities offered to Italian residents.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at how the Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (the AAMS) regulates gambling in Italy, and what stance the regulatory body takes against operators, both before and after acquiring a license.
About The Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato
Online gambling within Italy has always been a tricky subject, and it wasn’t until 2006 that the industry started to become legalised. Up until that point, the Italian government had made it illegal to offer non-skill games to be played for real money, but following a complaint in 2003, the European Commission stepped in after a lengthy investigation.
Today, gambling is legal in Italy – but there are certain conditions attached – and acquiring a license isn’t the easiest of feats to achieve.
2010 was the year that real change hit the Italian market, and this was when a new law came into force, allowing non-Italian based gambling operators to offer their services to Italian players.
The AAMS is in charge of distributing the licenses, and a license is required by any operator wanting to offer real money gambling services to Italian players.
The AAMS are known for being very strict with licensees, and due to the limited number of licenses they’re able to issue (more details on that below), they’re quite selective over who they grant licenses too.
Provisions Of a License
Interestingly, the AAMS is limited – in law – by issuing only 200 licenses at any one time, and this means the body is prepositioned to awarding licenses to Italian-based companies as opposed to overseas operators.
There are also strict conditions attached to licenses, and all operators who apply for a license must provide the AAMS with sufficient evidence that they:
- Manage games in Europe with a turnover of at least EUR 1,500,000 from the last 2 years
- Are able to run a functional and responsible company at a higher technical level, offering consumers an easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate and responsive services
- Are founded as a capital society
- Have experienced members of staff running the company
- Are based in the EU (this includes both official offices, and customer and technical support)
There is also a fee of 350,000 EUR to pay to the AAMS to acquire a license – although unlike some other regulatory bodies, the AAMS actually provides technical management, administration support and more.
Disputes and Complaints
The AAMS take player complaints directly – although, like many regulators, they do request that you first take any complaints directly to the online casino you’re playing at.
If that proves unsuccessful, you can then use an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution Service), if the casino has one in place. If the casino doesn’t – or if you have already been to the ADR, and find yourself disagreeing with their decision – you can then make a complaint directly to the AAMS.
While they don’t guarantee they’ll respond personally to your complaint, they do look into each and every query they receive – and if they deem that the casino has operated unfairly, they can enforce decisions.
Dude, you’ll have to catch a flight to see this one!
Replies
26
Views
781
Active
16 mins ago
Replies
6
Views
69
Active
1 hr ago
Replies
2
Views
16
Active
2 hrs ago
Replies
24092
Views
2475446
Active
4 hrs ago
Replies
50239
Views
3454849
Active
6 hrs ago
Replies
15
Views
225
Active
7 hrs ago
Replies
4
Views
102
Active
8 hrs ago
Replies
3
Views
114
Active
12 hrs ago
Replies
14
Views
339
Active
14 hrs ago
Replies
25
Views
394
Active
23 hrs ago
Latest Industry News
Casinomeister-Exclusive August Target Hit Challenge Just Rolled Out
The scorching summer heat is still going strong, it’s definitely wild out there. But it doesn’t even compare to Big Time Gaming’s Bonanza universe,…
Latest Industry News
This is the hub for all the most important events that take place in the iGaming industry. Here you’ll see us talking about regulatory changes, gam…
Latest Casinomeister News
What’s new with us? Here’s what’s going on with Casinomeister. New features, important updates, noteworthy changes — you’ll find info on all of it …
Interview with Maxd, our Complaints Manager
dionysus: With us today is maxd, CM complaints (PAB) manager Good morning max, and thank you for agreeing to be the next staff interview. Let’s b…
Interview with Nikantw
With us today is Ueber Meister member nikantw. Dionysus: Good day Nik. Thanks for joining us today. Let’s get the big elephant in the room out of…
Interview with Kroffe
Dionysus: With us today is the forum’s favourite bear, Kroffe. Welcome Kroffe. You’re one of the newest members to be interviewed, having been with…
