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While the government is cancelling and questioning acquired rights - think of the protest ban in the Security bill and the pressure to make abortion illegal - the Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi invoked an alleged 'right to bet' (according to which everyone is free to bet their money on a sports result) and did so after the Senate's Culture and Sport Committee approved Fratelli d'Italia's proposal to reintroduce the possibility for football teams to sign commercial agreements with betting companies. A measure that takes away the veto decided in 2018 (Dignity Decree) by the government led by Giuseppe Conte to curb the growing phenomenon of gambling.
"I feel like a free man," said Abodi speaking in the Senate, "and not enslaved to the logic of third-party and private interests, I am only interested in the common good. We want to combat ludopathy as a degenerative social phenomenon that creates disasters in families, but we have a different idea of how to pursue this objective. In my opinion, restoring advertising determines a distinction between the legal and the illegal'.
The decision on sponsorship anticipates the pre-announced reform of physical gambling - betting in agencies, halls and shops - already prepared by the Ministry of the Economy and presented to local authorities last October. The reform, among other things, reduces the distance meter, which today does not allow gambling halls to be opened within 300-500 metres of a number of 'sensitive' places such as schools, churches, oratories, social centres, sports facilities and senior citizen centres, which are considered vulnerable.
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Point 'J' of the resolution called and obtained the amendment of Article 9 of the Dignity Decree, specifying how “despite the regulations in force, there has been an increase, especially online, in gambling even among minors and an increase in illegal gambling in the betting sector. The measure has largely failed to meet the expectations of the legislator, not being at all effective in containing the phenomena of gambling, in the face, instead, of a reduction in revenue for sports clubs that has penalised the Italian football system compared to the European context”.
However, as Avviso Pubblico (network of local authorities which are actively engaged in promoting the culture of legality and responsible citizenship) points out, 'there is no independent and qualified study that supports the claim that the increase in illegal gaming has been caused by the advertising ban. On the contrary, there are numerous analyses by the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate and by successive Anti-Mafia parliamentary commissions over the years, which explain why illegal gaming and infiltration into legal gaming is rampant and why it is extremely convenient for mafias to invest in the sector".
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The return of sponsors to entice fans to bet on results, scorers, winners of championships and cups, etc., is just one of the novelties contained in the football system reform project under consideration by the executive, which aims to revive a sector in deep financial crisis. If it is true that some points of the reform have been shared by several political parties - for example, the modernisation of sports facilities and the construction of new stadiums; the strengthening of youth sectors; more funding for women's football; new rules for agents and procurers; etc. - it is clear that the main objective is to improve the quality of football. - It is clear that the main objective is to ensure more revenue for struggling clubs.
In the text approved by the Senate's Culture and Sports Committee, it is also provided that clubs will receive at least 1 per cent of betting revenues, to be invested in sports infrastructures, nurseries and women's football, projects to combat gambling, but also in scholarships to be awarded to the most deserving student athletes.
The return of sponsorship has triggered protests from opposition parties, starting with the 5 Star Movement. Giuseppe Conte, who seven years ago was one of the advocates of the Dignity Decree, accused: 'We are moving towards a far west, a 24-hour bombardment with citizens, many fragile and with low incomes, who fall into the vortex of gambling, burning 150 billion in gambling turnover'.
Fratelli d'Italia senator Paolo Marcheschi, interviewed by the Gazzetta dello Sport, replied that 'not putting the writing on the shirts or banners on the sidelines is like stopping the wind with your hands. Also because before, during and after the matches we are overwhelmed by betting tips, complete with odds that change to make live bets'.
Marcheschi then added that 'a harmful imbalance has been created in a sector that is central to our country, which has an impact on GDP of more than 11 billion a year, due to a law that unfortunately, and I stress unfortunately because we all wish we had already solved the tragedy of gambling, has led to nothing'. Inevitable the passage on 'lost opportunities', with the ban on sponsorships that would have contributed to impoverishing our football, when it is clear that the system has collapsed due to unsustainable financial management and lack of planning.
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In 2015, when she sat on the opposition benches, Giorgia Meloni had uttered these words: 'Can we treat gambling like cigarettes? Can we ban gambling advertising? Can we write, as we do on cigarette packets that smoking causes cancer, that slot machines and gambling produce misery, poverty, drugs, suicide?"
Ten years later, Fratelli d'Italia backed down, yielding to pressure from the Lega Serie A and club presidents, who had long been asking for rich commercial agreements with betting companies. Among them is Lazio owner Claudio Lotito, who sits in the Senate benches alongside Adriano Galliani, AC Milan's historic CEO, now at Monza.
"It is no longer a conflict of interest, but an apology of interest," commented Mauro Berruto, former head of the men's national volleyball team and now a PD deputy. "On the matter, the government has listened to the parties involved, a first draft was agreeable on almost all points, with the exception of betting, while the second version actually delegated the government to modify the Dignity Decree.
'It is true,' Berruto continues, 'that in recent years some clubs have circumvented the ban imposed by the Dignity decree (Inter has as its main sponsor Betsson, which is part of the group of the same name that specialises in betting, ed.) but we do not think that going back would improve the situation. Unfortunately, federations, bodies and clubs, on the one hand, fight against gambling by organising events and initiatives and, on the other, sign agreements with these companies, not to mention the many former footballers who sponsor betting sites. We know that football has accounts in the red, but instead of seeking virtuous solutions they try to stem the problem by going fishing in the murky waters'.
Libera and Gruppo Abele are among the associations that since 2012 have been promoting the national campaign Mettiamoci in gioco, against the risks of gambling. The phenomenon, despite the many initiatives to raise awareness, is constantly growing, as shown by the data processed by the National Observatory for the fight against the spread of gambling, which depends on the Ministry of Health. With the exception of the pandemic years (2019-2020), since 2018 the sums of money 'invested' by Italians have always increased, from just under 107 billion in 2018 to an estimated 180 billion in 2025. To understand the scale of the phenomenon, in 2025 Italians are expected to spend EUR 140 billion on healthcare and just EUR 67 billion on education.
And while the pockets of gamblers are emptying, the public coffers are filling up, with gambling accounting for 36.20 per cent of the state's tax revenue.
Gambling affects all sections of the population. A large proportion of gamblers are adults (60 per cent), but the worrying figure is 37 per cent of young people between the ages of 14 and 19, the so-called Generation Z. The elderly complete the picture, accounting for 26 per cent. Online gambling has overtaken gambling in physical gambling parlours (bars and tobacconists) and among the Italian regions where people gamble and bet the most, Lombardy is in first place (EUR 13 billion), followed by Campania, Lazio and Emilia Romagna.
Among the common motivations that drive users to try their luck are the hope of winning money, the excitement of the challenge and the chance to escape from daily worries. The latter, as the Observatory specifies, is the most risky because it can be addictive.
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