Italian online gambling market posts growth in 2018
New figures from the gambling regulator of Italy show that online gambling registered a double-digit increase in 2018.
Italy.- Online gambling keeps growing all over the world, and Italy’s local market is proof of that. The online gambling segment in Italy registered a double-digit increase in 2018, as the local gambling regulator revealed in a new report.
The 2018 Blue Book report by Italy’s Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), the gambling regulatory body, detail figures of gambling’s performance. The local gambling market generated €18.9 billion in 2018, which represents a flat increase over 2017’s performance. The land-based sector reported a 1.7% decrease to €17.2 billion, while online gambling posted an 18% rise to €1.6 billion.
The slots vertical was the biggest contributor to the poor land-based performance in 2018. Revenue decreased 5.3% to €7.1 billion during last year’s operations, offsetting video lottery terminals (VLTs) performance of €3 billion and a 7.1% increase. Lottery scratch cards reported a 1% decrease €2.4 billion, while Lotto fell 4.1% to €2.3 billion.
The online sports betting market posted good results last year, as it totalled €1.4 billion and an increase of 10.4% over the previous year’s results. Those results were driven by the FIFA World Cup in June-July.
Online casino revenue totalled €710 million, while virtual sports bets posted €267 million. On the other hand, online poker revenue fell 1.2% to €82 million.
May results
ADM reported sports betting revenue growth of 44.2% year-on-year to €134.1 million. That meant a year-to-date increase of 11.7% to €698.5 million.
The overall revenue figure, however, was less than April’s €173.6 million. Nonetheless, the segment continued its growth. For instance, land-based betting revenue grew to €77.9 million (up 49.5%) and online to €56.2 million (37.7%).
Online casinos grew 22% year-on-year to almost €70 million. PokerStars led with a 10.5% share, followed by Lottomatica at 8%. Behind them came Sisal (7.7%), Snaitech (6.5%) and 888 Holdings (6.3%).
The online poker vertical was the black sheep of the industry once again. The segment continues to struggle and posted declines in both tournaments and cash games. They were down 2.9% to €6.3 million and 8.3% to €5 million.
