Italy increases gross gaming revenues

As gross gaming revenues increased month-to-month, market share is changing significantly in Italy.

Italy.- According to estimates provided by leading gaming sector advisory firm Ficom Leisure to iGaming Business, total gross gaming revenues from the dot.it market increased 6 percent in July to US$114 million. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Economy data revealed that the Italian gaming market has experienced optimistic growth in the last decade.

Market share changes come as a surprise for July’s operations, as Planetwin365 has shortened the gap on Bet365, Italy’s long-time online betting top scorer, as the news outlet confirmed. Whilst Bet365 doesn’t have a big retail presence like the other operator, it managed to increase its share by 20.6 percent of the market in July. The online casino sector was led once again by PokerStars, the biggest online poker operator in the world, but didn’t increased the gap with its closest rivals, Sisal and Lottomatica.

Last week, Eurostat, Ministry of Economy data, calculated that local players spent US$113 billion last year in entertainment gaming services, such as slot machines, casino games and lotteries. The gaming revenue increase was also boosted by the series of amendments to Italian laws on gambling machines and online gaming introduced in 2015.

The tax on AWP (amusement with prizes machines) increased from 13 percent to 17.5 percent. Whilst the increase for VLTs (video lottery terminals) was up 0.5 percent to 5.5 percent. And taxes on online gaming were set at 20 percent of the net receipts.