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A circular from the State Monopolies, sent to the regional Inspector, specifies that Totem can only be used by authorized licensees solely for the collection of fixed quota sporting bets, and that any other use represents “an assumption of participation in the collection from gaming, prohibited by the law”.
The fastest expansion of the so-called “totem” requires “a specific participation” in order to determine what the agreed limits are for its installation and use. The circular from the Strategies Department of Aams supplies the instructions for use, emphasizing that “the standard in force does not allow Totem to be installed and used in businesses open to the public, but possible authorization by Aams relaxes this on the basis of specific availability”. In the absence of any authorization, “the installation and use of the equipment includes an assumption of participation in the collection from gaming, punished by Law 401 of 1989”.
In the case where the Totem in question is connected to the licensee’s sites, the sanctions stipulated in the licenses that have been granted (suspension, forfeiture and retraction, editor’s note), are applied “on the basis of the subsistence of the relationship that binds them to the holders of the businesses dealing with the public,): the said sanctions are applied in the case where Totem is installed and used on the various premises of the same licensees". The only small opening for the operators therefore concerns the licensees for fixed quota betting who - if authorised by the Aams - will be able to activate the equipment “installed in the various premises of the authorized site (the agency or the corner), in order to allow the player to place his bet on-line along with all the licensees authorised to exercise fixed quota bets".
This prohibition on use is born from the differences between Totem and New Slot, with the second requiring an “obligatory connection to a managed on-line network of licensees”. The Totem, instead, would allow the customers to play “remotely”, accessing “the vast range of offers present”, legal and illegal, offered by the operators whether legally licensed or not. According to the State Monopolies, the lack of possible location and installation criteria “does not bring automatic legitimisation” for businesses dealing with the public to take up positions that via the Internet allow the connection to any site for remote gaming.
A contrary interpretation would legitimise the missing adoption of the instruments necessary to guarantee “the pre-eminent interests of protecting the essential requirements” in contrast to crime and the protection of minors.
An effective system of standards demands that the Administration, in order to carry out its own work effectively, must keep control over “all those who operate - also indirectly - in the sector, as is the case with the managers of the businesses dealing with the public, in order to prevent the exercise of gaming activities for criminal or fraudulent purposes".
A principle moreover also coming from the European Court of Justice, according to which “each State depending on its own socio-cultural specificity, is free to set the objectives for its internal policy with regard to games of chance".
The circular from Aams records that shortly the so-called Community law will allow the offer of gaming “exclusively by autonomously managed remote methods, without the use of equipment to access the authorized site remotely, located near the business premises". Any infringement will result in imprisonment for anyone collecting remotely without a license or, even if a licensee, collecting from games using technical methods that are different from those prescribed by the law.
