Absolute prohibition of advertising on games for money: wrong solution?

In question in the Chamber, a bill to completely prohibit any type of advertising relating to games with cash prizes, even online.

The presentation of the Chamber of a bill is recent news to the presidency of a bill aimed at eliminating any form of advertising and propaganda relating to games with cash prizes. This would also include all online channels, even those relating to mess. For those who do not adapt, a fine of $ 200,000 would be foreseen.

If this proposal is motivated by trying to put a brake on the problem of ludopathy or other factors for the moment it is not clear. In our opinion, in any case, it is a wrong solution, because the first to pay the consequences would be the players.

The game would make the game completely suppress the advertising, the 10 -year sector, effectively preventing users from clearly distinguishing the offer of legal game and controlled by the dangerous jungle of the illegal game, an environment in which the dangers do not limit themselves to ludopathy.

This position is also supported by the USA Game System (a confederation of the sector participating in Confindustria), which also claims that Sector studies conducted both in USA and in England have shown the non -existence of a correlation between the increase in advertising and the number of problematic or minors playersnull The advanced proposal would therefore be paradoxical, because it would only damage those who work within the borders of the legal game. A victory only for those who are the proponent of the enemy ideology of the game, a disaster for players and users who would be submerged again under a sea of illegality. Because certainly those who work by the illegal part of the game barricade will not stop advertising on the internet under the threat of a fine.

Most of the game advertising concern online gaming services, such as bets and mess. It is obvious that web services make use of advertising to make their offers known, since there is no other way to reach the potential interested partiesnull This logic does not only concern online casinos or bets, but in general any type of service that can be used through the internet. Eliminating any form of propaganda would effectively damage only the brands operating in the context of legality, paving the way for illegal and totally out of control game and putting at risk of tens of thousands of users who would still continue to play on the web without any guarantee of safety and reliability.

Certainly more effective solutions should in our opinion predict advertising regulation, for example limiting the exposure of minors to TV commercials, punishing the websites of websites and spammer who instigate the game by suggesting to users insured and spreading a correct education towards the game in a more massive and pervasive way.