Italy Turns to Health Cards to Police Slot Machine Play

• Brian Jeacoma
• August 1, 2018

All across the globe, real money casino-style gambling continues to expand through the addition of land-based casino venues and well as online access through internet betting sites. The overall gambling industry remains highly regulated with the goal of limiting use by bettors with gambling problems as well as gambling by minors who are not old enough to play slot machines and other games of chance.

Land-based casinos in the United States can simply employ checkpoints at any entrance to check identification cards for a person’s age just as any establishment serving alcohol can do to prevent underage drinking. Policing online gambling through real money internet slot machine casino sites becomes a bit more problematic, but certain measures have been put in place to try and deny access to anyone under the legal age that is set on a state-by-state or country-by-country basis.

Why Does Italy Turns to Health Cards to Police Slot Machine Play

When it comes to slot machine play in Italy, the government is stepping in to up the ante on enforcement measures to eliminate underage play. In a recent post under the General News section on the Italian-based website ANSA.it, it was reported that the government is looking to take effective steps towards eliminating slot machine play by underage patrons.

The opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has submitted a proposal that require all casino patrons to insert a health card into a slot machine in order to play it. The measure is aimed at keeping minors from any form of real money gambling such as slot machines, video poker and other forms of electric gaming machines. The PD party submitted the proposal a few days ago and it immediately won cross-party support. The measure was approved by Italy’s Lower House finance and labour committees after gaining that high level of support from parliament according to this report

This could be part of a legislative effort to adhere to the ‘dignity decree’ that is aimed at improving overall job security in the country. The key component of the measure that pertains to slot machine use would require casinos to convert their existing slot machines to ones that can require a health card to verify age. The proposal in its current form would require this conversion to be completed by January 1, 2020.

Does not have the health card option to check a user’s age

Along with this hard deadline to remove any slot machine that does not have the health care option to check a user’s age, , there are provisions in the bill that allow for a 10,000 dollar fine for each machine in any establishment that does not conform to these new rules.

This report goes on to compare these new efforts to combat illegal use of gambling slot machines by underage patrons to the automatic cigarette machines that are in use throughout the country. The cigarette machines require the use of a heath card to buy tobacco products to limit access to minors. The same practice can then be applied to the proper use of slot machines.

The ANSA.it report did not mention anything about the reaction from Italy’s slot machine operators in regard to the proposed measure.