Online Poker Legal in Italy Next Year

The online poker scene in Italy was looking bleak for any poker company not specifically licensed by the Italian government, but it looks like the future is brightening up, staring in 2007. The former Minister of Industry, Commerce and Handicraft, Bersani along with the Minister of Finance, Visco, had crafted a decree that would make any site without such authorization be targeted for an IP block, making it impossible for Italians to play on such sites. Now, however, it looks like the field will be wide open for the Italian crowd, starting January 1st. With the deregulation of ability games and fixed betting games, and a 3% share in profits going to the Italian government, online poker will be completely legal in the new year.