AAMS gains new powers as Lega-5Star signs Italy up as Magglingen member

Italian betting incumbents will be forced to undertake further market adjustments as Lega MP and Undersecretary for Sports, Giancarlo Giorgetti confirms a wagering ban on all sports deemed to be played/participated at an amateur level.

The Lega-5Star coalition government has sanctioned Italian gambling regulator AAMS to issue a new decree, which implements an outright ban on wagers placed on ‘competitions exclusively reserved for underage and amateur players’.

The decree will be enforced from 1 June 2019, with Giorgetti and Lega-5Star stating that the AAMS has followed procedures/protocols recommended by the EU sanctioned ‘Magglingen Convention – on the manipulation of sports competitions’.

Developed in 2014, the Magglingen Convention, identifies amongst its key measures in combatting sports corruption ‘the exclusion of the ‘competitions reserved for minors, underlining ‘the need to protect the integrity of sports practiced by minors’.

Moving to further empower AAMS frameworks, this April the Italian Parliament ratified the provisions of the Magglingen Convention as Italian law.

This development will see the Italian ADM customs agency assigned as the nation’s ‘sports betting regulatory authority’ tasked with implementing measures on combatting illegal betting and minimising sports corruption.

Granted new powers, the AAMS will be allowed to confiscate operator goods and earnings deemed to be obtained illegally, in accordance with Article 5 of the Magglingen Convention.

Becoming a Magglingen member, the AAMS states that it will cooperate in data and information exchanges with supranational police agencies helping fight European sports corruption.

According to the convention’s mandate, participating states are entitled to adopt measures such as blocking of financial transactions between illegal sports betting operators and consumers.