Lazio Regional Administrative Court confirms the stop to arcades, betting agencies and bingo halls.
The First Section of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, by collegial order of 18 November last, rejecting the request made by some gambling halls to suspend the DPCM of 24 October and 3 November, confirmed the closure of betting agencies, slot rooms and bingo halls ordered by the aforementioned government measures to limit the infections of the new wave of Covid-19. According to the administrative judges, in fact, as stated in the motivations, the DPCM "is the expression of a high degree of discretion which, upon the summary examination of the precautionary phase, is not affected by manifest unreasonableness, illogicality or disproportionality". "The identification of the economic activities subject to total suspension" continues the ordinance in question, "in any case for a limited period of time, can reasonably be based, in addition to the possibility of ensuring compliance with the security protocols and the opportunity to deal in identical situations, also on the ability of economic activities to satisfy users' primary needs". According to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, in this contest "the interest, of a purely economic nature, of the owners of those activities which, such as gaming and betting rooms, are not objectively aimed at satisfying a primary need of the individual", as the stop imposed by the aforementioned Prime Ministerial Decree "appears precisely inspired by the intention to guarantee the necessary social distancing with the sacrifice of some economic activities identified, not so much on the basis of a judgment of intrinsic unworthiness of the interests pursued by them, but rather in consideration of the fact that are not suitable for providing users with goods and / or services of objective, primary, importance ". The administrative judges, then, underline that the government measures on the subject, however, "have ensured economic relief, to compensate for the suspension period" suffered by the arcades, in this recognizing a further equalization value.
