There is nothing new to report on the possibilities of Italian family entertainment centres reopening or any good news for AWPs in street locations. The situation, said one industry leader, is now more a political than health consideration.
The industry continues to hope that the Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte will announce further relaxations of the coronavirus rules to help the industry, but despite protesters taking to the streets of Milan and Rome, many of the lockdown rules remain in place.
Cinemas are to reopen on June 15, but the rest of the business remains closed to the frustration of the industry.
Mauro Zaccaria of suppliers Tecnoplay told InterGame: “This is now more political than a health problem. As an industry we have delivered to the government our proposals on how to guarantee the safety of players and we can show that we can be less of a risk than other shops.
“But in Italy we have the 5 Stelle Party (an anti-establishment and Eurosceptic group) and it is completely against any form of games, whether AWPs or amusement machines. They are working to delay everything as much as they can – and the government needs all the tax money it can get from our industry.”
The amusement industry in Italy is increasingly critical of the circumstances surrounding the gradual reopening of the market. It has been noted that some bowling venues have been allowed to reopen, yet the video games and other amusements in the centres continued to be closed down.
