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Supporto Messoanuovo
25 Jun, 2022

LAN rooms closed, what is the reason for this choice that goes against the trend? What are the differences with the betting centers with which they have been associated?

On Friday 29 April 2022 in Italy a choice was made that goes against the trend of the rest of the world, with LAN rooms closed and a "blow" against esports and online gaming .

But what exactly happened? Let's find out starting from the basics.

What is a LAN room?

A LAN room is a "real place", a kind of playroom 2.0 where people can go and play on special gaming PCs or consoles connected via a network (LAN) to each other. It is therefore a meeting place where friends, acquaintances, but also perfect strangers can meet for one-on-one challenges, challenges and groups or even tournaments.

The LAN room is therefore a place where a gamer or aspiring player can go to experience the thrill of online gaming and esports, without the need to have a super computer at home and a fast Internet connection.

In many cases it is also an alternative to the home station itself, when the "online match" alone is no longer sufficient and physical contact with friends and adventure companions is preferred.

In these LAN rooms you can enter freely, in some cases as members, in others as normal customers and you pay an hourly rate based on playing time.

LAN rooms can therefore be considered as evolutions of the "old" Internet Points that were very famous when the web did not yet have massive diffusion.

LAN rooms closed. What exactly happened?

With a lightning-fast and unexpected action between 29 and 30 April, ADM (Customs and Monopolies Agency) seized some Italian LAN rooms, after a complaint from an entrepreneur who owned a traditional games room.

In the complaint, the entrepreneur contested the lack of rules for the LAN room sector which clashed with that of traditional gaming rooms, which were instead subjected to ad hoc regulations and taxation.

This was the first point raised by many. As of today, what actually is a traditional arcade? Just a place where you can play video games via cabinets or are slot rooms also comparable to an arcade?

The protest at the LAN rooms

The clash between traditional entrepreneurs, ADMs and LAN room owners immediately moved to the legal level, as, according to the latter, there is a regulatory hole in a law that has not been updated over time and has completely ignored a growing phenomenon at world like that of esports of which the LAN rooms are often the first representation and collector in the area.

On the other hand, the entrepreneurship of traditional arcades contests the fact that you can take a console, or a PC intended for personal use, install it in a public room and turn it into a business.

According to the complaint, in the LAN rooms use is made of equipment and versions of games which have been produced for private industry and which in the LAN rooms are only displayed inside structures (for example that of a single-seater) which leads the configuration to follow as much as you can already find in an arcade.

In this regard, the comparative case of a video game was presented in the complaint which in the LAN room version very much resembled the very famous cabinets that have always been on the scene in arcades.

LAN rooms closed. The problem

What emerged to external eyes, from the first consideration, is that Italian law presents a glaring regulatory gap with regards to LAN rooms and online gaming in general.

In some ways the legislator was several years behind, not considering the global turning point that esports is bringing.

The closure of the LAN rooms has in fact created many problems for small entrepreneurs and for a rapidly growing movement also represented by magazines, websites, live broadcasts and even trade fairs with international relevance (such as the Milan Gaming Week).

The crux of the problem goes back once again to the law and its interpretations.

In particular:

What exactly does "games room" mean today?

Game rooms and slot machines

Is a game room just a place where you can go and play with cabinets or something more?

Can a games room be considered a place that also has an area reserved for adults in which to play slot machines with possible cash winnings?

Because for example, the activities of the entrepreneur who filed the complaint are. By game room the entrepreneur in question (and presumably the law) indicates a place that can contain, in addition to the cabinets, also bars, laser game areas, bowling and indeed slot machines.

LAN rooms closed

The real reason

We can only assume that there is not only a risk of "unfair" competition within this complaint, but that the same was done in a preventive manner in view of sectoral expansion.

On the sidelines of this "warning", in fact, the entrepreneur also made very specific requests regarding his business, which above all concern the fact of being able to add Esports to the "video games" and paid slots already in his possession, obviously competitive and with cash prizes.

A real action that aims to broaden the offering base of slot machine rooms, but at the same time takes away the possibility of eGames being "clean" sports, similar to traditional ones.

The difference

It's not our job to judge and decide for ADM, but we believe that esports can be something very different from slot machines.

Different in type of setting and audience, for two sports that in our opinion are almost not worth comparing.

So our hope is that new technologies will be implemented by Esports and that we will finally begin to give the right importance to a niche that is growing day after day on a global level.

Esports is attracting a lot of interest from very young people and not only, equating them to slot machines would, in our opinion, be very limiting and wrong.

We therefore hope that the issue of closed LAN rooms will soon be over, with a choice dictated by logic and not just by economic interests.