On 14 April 2026, the Court of Florence published its rulings to dismiss the sanctioning proceedings started by the Italian gambling regulator ADM against a foreign gaming machine provider and an Italian shipping company. ADM alleged the breach of Italian gambling legislation on gaming machines authorisations under Article 110 of the TULPS (Consolidated Law on Public Safety, Royal Decree 18 June 1931, n. 773), which regulates public safety and order and police authorisations in Italy.
The dispute stems from an inspection of the vessel at the seaport of Livorno, in which ADM officials found several gaming machines that lacked the compulsory authorisations prescribed by Article 110. ADM consequently seized the machines and fined the provider and shipping company.
To put things into context, Art. 110 of the TULPS regulates the installation and use of authorised gaming machines within commercial or public shops, as well as the gaming machines in traveling entertainment activities. The same law states that, outside of those shops and activities, “The installation and use of automatic, semi-automatic, and electronic gambling machines are prohibited in public or open-to-the-public places, as well as in clubs and associations of any kind”. Anyone who manufactures, imports, distributes, installs, or allows the use, on the territory of Italy, of gaming machines without the prescribed authorisations is fined.
In its recent ruling, the Court of Florence stated that the provider of gaming machines installed onboard an Italian-flagged vessel registered in the International Register and intended exclusively for use beyond Italian waters shall not be considered responsible for the violation set up by Article 110.
Agreeing with the appeals of the gaming machine provider and shipping company, the Court recognised the inapplicability of the sanctions provided for by the above-mentioned provision, by virtue of an exemption law from 1997, intended precisely to promote the competitiveness of domestic vessels with foreign vessels.
This exemption provides Italian vessels’ operators equal conditions on international markets, with an aim of developing transport and increasing employment. Notably, it states that the Criminal Code provisions prohibiting the exercise and participation in gambling activities and Article 110 of the TULPS do not apply Italian-flagged passengers vessels registered in the International Register beyond territorial waters.
As such, the law legitimises the availability to the public of gaming machines during the navigation beyond Italian territorial waters, with the condition that the machines are installed on vessels enrolled within the International Register. In other words, it also legitimises that the gaming machines are hosted within the same vessels when those are within Italian waters and within the national seaports, as long as the machines are not available to the public.
According to the Court of Florence, the exemption law “would be deprived of useful meaning if it was considered that the exercise of the activities covered by Art. 110 TULPS exercised outside Italian territorial waters, were subject to obtaining the same authorisations and complying with the same technical requirements as those provided for the same activities exercised on the territory of Italy”.
The ruling clearly states that to “the activities covered by art. 110 TULPS, the fines provided for when practised on board vessels registered in the International Register, during the period of navigation beyond the Italian sea, are not applicable, nor that consequently the exercise of such activities is subject to compliance with those requirements (technical and administrative) governed by the rules whose violation Article 110 TULPS determines the application of the sanction”.
Interestingly, the Court of Florence also clarifies the prerequisites for the applicability of the exemption rule, deeming it sufficient to adopt measures aimed at preventing the use of the gaming machines within Italian waters, such as turning off the machines and placing an “out of service” sign or closing the gaming machines in a room not accessible to the public.
As a consequence, the Court of Florence ruling voided the injunction order of ADM and ordered the restitution of the seized gaming machines, finally making clear the legal framework applicable to the use of gaming machines, with or without cash winnings, on board of Italian-flagged vessels beyond Italian national waters.
