The storm over the Italian government's action-by-decree forcing ISPs to block 684 Internet gambling sites continued into the weekend.

The UK's Remote Gaming Association (RGA) attacked the Italian government's unilateral action as being in clear violation of Italian and European law.

And at a press conference in Milan, the major international betting exchange group Betfair strongly attacked the measures, saying that the legislation introduced by the Italians was passed "without due process" as it was not notified to the European Commission before a decision was taken to implement the new restrictions which came into force on February 24.

Mark Davies, managing director of Betfair's international lobbying arm, said: "We are giving consideration to what legal action we will need to take to protect our current position so that we can continue to offer our services to the hundreds of thousands of Italians that might legitimately want to use them.

"Under the new legislation, Italian consumers will no longer benefit from the competitive prices offered by Betfair and other online gambling service providers in Europe.

"The reduced competition will ultimately reduce the value Italian punters get, leaving them at the mercy of the existing monopolist AAMS. The new law not only restricts our ability to offer services but our fundamental right of commercial free speech. Censorship for the benefit of a local monopoly is a disgrace; it is the technological equivalent of book burning."

Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the RGA, said: "All remote gambling operators in the RGA are licensed for gambling purposes within the European Economic Area. They adhere to high standards of regulation and social responsibility. There is no legitimate reason why they should not be allowed to provide their services to Italian residents.

"The implementation of these restrictions on ISPs is a clear breach of European law, in particular the freedom of establishment and freedom to provide cross-border services that are set out in Articles 43 and 49 of the EC Treaty and which have subsequently been upheld by the European Court of Justice.

"Our members are presently considering what legal action to take and we have already raised our concerns with the European Commission. The Italian authorities should be in no doubt that the industry will fight hard to stop this protectionist and unfair law."