Italy has made a step toward legalizing online gambling and liberalizing the country’s online betting industry. Some official comments on Italian legislative draft to enforce and regulate internet gambling laws for wagering sites and online casinos that face Italy have been issued by the European Commission.

In these comments protective measures for gamblers are criticized by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority. According to Malta’s Opinion, where they expressed their concerns, essentially Italian legislative draft needs amendments. Recently the EGBA has published its own statement.

Sigrid Ligne, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association, has stated that even though Italy in reality amends its legislation to meet cross-border laws of the EU, the statement that was issued by the European Commission runs that this legislation would come short of “public order interest” still.

That means that the legislation should adopt the protective measures which are being used by betting websites and online casinos licensed in other EU member states, for example, the online casinos of the UK meet the strict standards that the UK Gambling Act imposes.

Particularly, it is the decree which requires online betting operators from other countries to connect up to a centralized IT system that according to the EGBA imposes additional restrictions, which serving to keep from criminal activities, is more expensive and needless than the up to date technological measures employed in other EU nations successfully. One more objectionable issue is the extreme restrictions imposed upon specific games.