The tender for Italian online gaming licenses might be launched very soon and companies interested to it shall get ready. 
After a very long delay, the tender for the award of new Italian online gaming licenses is expected to be launched between the 18th and the 25th of September 2017 according to the press.
How will the tender for Italian online gaming licenses work?
The full terms of the tendering process are not know yet, but the essential terms are the following:
- There will be the award of 120 Italian online gaming licenses on the “first comes first served” basis, without any type of bidding process. However, around 40 out of these 120 licenses are likely to be granted to the existing licensees whose license expired last year;
- The application window for the Italian online gaming license is expected to be open for 2 months;
- The price for the license will be of € 200,000 and it will last up to 31 December 2022; and
- The license to be awarded will be an “umbrella” license, covering all the games that can be currently offered under non-exclusive licenses i.e. sportsbetting, horse betting, card tournament and cash games, casino games, betting exchange, bets on virtual events and bingo. Once the umbrella license is obtained, it will be necessary to obtain the technical approval in relation to each category of game, but no additional price for the license shall be paid.
In general terms, the documents to be submitted as part of the application process and the applicable obligations are expected to be very similar to those of the previous tender. Therefore, most of our clients are already arranging the required documentation and this is our recommended course of action.
What are the main terms of Italian online gaming licenses?
The regulatory framework where the new Italian online gaming licenses will operate is the same in place for the current operators. Therefore, interested entities have no excuses to delay the arrangement of the required documents.
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