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The Italian Government has confirmed plans to recognise and regulate esports, after controversial seizures of equipment at several venues across the country.
The Customs and Monopolies Agency had seized equipment from several esports venues across Italy at the end of April.
The agency said the move followed a complaint, which required it to «verify compliance of taxation on gambling and with regard to the correct application of the legislation aimed at the protection and health of minors.»
Existing Italian law has classified local area network (LAN) equipment similarly to gambling, slot and arcade machines.
«It is quite clear that the purpose of the checks carried out last weekend was to ascertain compliance with the regulations currently in force, with the aim of protecting their own operators in the market of LAN rooms that make gaming equipment available legally and responsibly,» the Customs and Monopolies Agency said.
The Italian Government has since confirmed it will seek to introduce legislation, which will include the establishment of an esports federation.
Federico Freni, undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said the organisation was discussing a national governing body with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).
«The Government is considering, in concert with the CONI, the establishment of a federation that oversees the organisation of competitive sports gaming,» Freni said, according to corrierecomunicazioni.
«The Government wants to specify, given the extraordinary importance of the sector, that all evaluations are underway for the most appropriate regulatory initiatives to ensure effective and stable regulation of the sector in a reasonable time, recognising an autonomous relevance of the devices without winning money.»
Freni added: «The Government reserves the right to evaluate the appropriateness of all the initiatives undertaken so far.»
The Italian Federation for Electronic Disciplines has welcomed the «positive news».
The organisation said the recognition of esports would support the development and sustainability of the esports sector.
The Italian Federation for Electronic Disciplines is a member of both the International Esports Federation and the Global Esports Federation.
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Even during the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, insidethegames.biz maintained its high standard of reporting on all the news from around the globe on a daily basis. We were the first publication in the world to signal the threat that the Olympic Movement faced from the coronavirus and have provided unparalleled coverage of the pandemic since.
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Every contribution, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our worldwide coverage in the year ahead. Our small and dedicated team were extremely busy last year covering the re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, an unprecedented logistical challenge that stretched our tight resources to the limit.
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Unlike many others, insidethegames.biz is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe that sport belongs to everybody, and everybody should be able to read information regardless of their financial situation. While others try to benefit financially from information, we are committed to sharing it with as many people as possible. The greater the number of people that can keep up to date with global events, and understand their impact, the more sport will be forced to be transparent.
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