Italy experiences gambling revenue rise
A new report shows that online casino and sports betting contributed to a 19 percent growth during May.
Italy.- Gaming advisory firm Ficom Leisure revealed along with iGaming Business that the online gambling market in Italy grew 19 percent annually from US$115 million to US$137 million last month. The news outlet and the firm reported that sports betting and online casino helped achieve the results.
Online casino represents half of the market in Italy, as it increased from US$39 million to US$51 million year-on-year, whilst sports betting GGR (gross gaming revenue) increased from US$61 million to US$69 million. Christian Tirabassi, senior partner at Ficom Leisure, said in April that the Italian gaming market has become the second largest in Europe after the UK, which is considered the global benchmark for the gaming industry.
Whilst online gambling is on the rise, the .it market was 41 percent down because April featured a rise in sports betting thanks to the UEFA Champions League. Tirabassi said that the explanation for the high sport betting GGR in April was the quarter finals of the competition. “The semi-finals took place in May, however due to the favourable outcome of the matches for the bettors, the GGR generated by the operators was lower,” he added.
The news outlet also said that Bet365 is still the leading operator when it comes to sports betting, as Lottomatica is in the online casino world. Doxa Research Institute reported that the legal sector is increasing at the same time that the illegal sites are getting down. The online gaming market contributed US$267 million in 2016 to the state budget, a 21 percent increase from the previous year. Italy currently features 84 operators, and there’s been an exponential increase of casino games as well as sports betting.
