For those of us who have been following changes in government attitudes around the world to online gambling and, in particular, online bingo, the dramatic change around by the Italian government over the last year has definitely been one of the high points.

Italy relaxed its strict ‘punti remoti’ (remote gambling) laws to allow foreign competitors the chance to offer services to Italian customers. Not only was this a boost to the industry as a whole which had suffered a major setback due to US legislation last year, but it also showed many that Italy was serious about its EU commitments to free trade.

However, the Italian governmental outfit charged with regulating the gambling industry is now indicating its desire to place restriction on the financial workings of the online gambling industry in an effort to curb money laundering. Online bingo hall operators and those Italians who want to play free online bingo games will be restricted to using credit cards only if the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies has its way.

One can only hope this is not a return to the bad old days of state-run monopolies in a country that has done an excellent job in promoting the benefits of a well regulated, yet open gambling industry.

Written by John Witherspoon - Play bingo online at http://bingostreet.com/ and read bingo news.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 1:39 am and is filed under Online Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.