New Zealand mobile casino operator LeoVegas, says its second quarter results have exceeded expectations, while the company takes up its fight against Italy's new ban on gambling advertising. The operator LeoVegas has submitted a formal complaint to the European Union (EU).

The rules, which include a general ban on all gambling advertising and sponsorship within Italy, have been subject to criticism and opposition from the gambling industry.

However, the Italian government has stood firm without conducting any dialogue on the merits of the complaint.

2018 is a good year for LeoVegas

LeoVegas released an early preview of its tax report this week, it happily announced that its revenue would likely end up around $ 15 million in revenue. The official figures have already been released at the time of writing.

The company said that its marketing expenses amounted to about 30 million dollars, which corresponds to about 35% of revenue for the second quarter. When LeoVegas released its first quarter report this spring, it said its marketing spend was likely to exceed 42.3% of the revenue the company spent in 2017.

LeoVegas CEO Gustaf Hagman said that the company's " data-driven marketing model works so that we only invest if we see good enough returns in our marketing channels."This model indicated that the madness of rivals’marketing efforts during 2018'S FIFA World Cup meant for LeoVegas not to advertise in certain channels due to the low return, which in turn led to a significantly higher EBITDA than expected.

Now they are going against the government of Italy

Once again, LeoVegas has managed to make headlines when the company filed a formal complaint with the European Commission (EC) about Italy's plans to ban all game advertising and sponsorship. LeoVegas claims that the advertising restrictions contained in the Italian government's so-called decree on dignity are contrary to EU rules on the ability of member states to restrict trade in goods and services.

LeoVegas Operations Manager Niklas Lindahl, who has also spoken openly with Luigi Di Maio about the advertising ban, said the company filed its complaint because Di Maio did not want to accept a Democratic confrontation with local game players in the industry.

Lindahl added that LeoVegas is determined to show Di Maio that the advertising ban does not respect European laws and, above all, does not protect, but rather exposes Italians to a greater likelihood of gambling addiction behavior by channeling them towards unauthorized online operators.

Regardless of the merits of Leovega's argument, it seems unlikely that the EC will intervene, as it has effectively washed its hands of interfering with member states ' actions in terms of gambling activities within their respective borders.

Italy and New Zealand

Committees in Italy's Chamber of Deputies are currently sitting and pulling through roughly 1,000 proposed amendments to the decree, with a vote on the final text planned, after which the finished product will be passed on to the entire chamber for further discussion.

Interestingly, this comes not long before it is time for New Zealand to ease the laws within its borders regarding the gaming monopoly. This clearly shows where Leovegas comes from and the outcome may well be an example of how we will see in the future how governments in various EU countries handle various gambling laws and how casino suppliers are treated.

It remains to be seen but until then, just keep your eyes open for more news.

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