Fixed odds betting, new MEF Regulation
The new Regulation issued on August 1 2022 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance with Decree no. 145 and relating to the discipline of fixed odds bets on sporting events other than horse racing and on non-sporting events was published last September 28 in the Official Gazette (GU General Series n.227) and it will enter into force on 28/10/2022.
Next October 28th, the new Regulation relating to the "discipline of fixed odds bets on sporting events other than horse racing and non-sporting events", issued by M.E.F. with the decree of 1.8.2022 and published in the Official Gazette last September 28th, will come into force. The decree aims to renew and make the fixed-odds betting market more attractive, considering that it "has undergone profound transformations in the last decade and therefore, in order to increase the contrast to the irregularity of the gaming offer, it is necessary to modify the current regulatory framework for the sector and introducing new gaming methods. "There are many innovations envisaged by the new Regulations. First of all, the so-called" split "type of bet is introduced, which will allow the introduction of the so-called" Asian handicap ", on the basis of which the concessionaire assigns a handicap for the favorite team such as to be able to offer better odds on the event so that the outcome of the bets can be, in addition to winning or losing, also half refund and half winning or losing. In addition, "the cases of the type of bet considered valid will be explicitly identified, an activity up to now the result of mere interpretation of the current Regulations and the specific cases in which the participant will be entitled to reimbursement are reported. Another important novelty concerns the introduction of the possibility of recognizing the error-quote, that is when a bookmakers objectively offers an off-market share. In fact, until now the dealers were forced to pay, reserving the right to appeal to the Court against possible fraud, while with the new Regulation , in the event of an obviously wrong quote, the concessionaire may ask the Customs and Monopoly Agency to verify the error and recalculate the amount to be assigned to the event involved in the error. The so-called 'cash out' is then foreseen, namely the possibility for the concessionaires to propose to the participant the advance payment of the fixed-odds bet, even partial, before the last of the predicted events takes place. Finally, there are some changes regarding the minimum bet and the maximum win. In particular, the unit stake for fixed odds bets is set at five euro cents (instead of 1 euro), while the minimum amount for each participation receipt wagered cannot be less than one euro (previously the minimum was 2 euros) and the maximum payout limit is raised, passing from 10 thousand to 50 thousand euros.