Online gaming barely grows in Italy
During October, growth in the online gaming vertical in Italy slowed down and barely grew 1.2% in comparison with October 2018.
Italy.- Regulatory body Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) released its report for October 2019. The body revealed online gaming in Italy generated revenue of €65.7 million, a discouraging figure.
Figures shown mean a growth of just 1.2% year-on-year, the first single-digit improvement in 2019. That is also drastically lower than the 22.4% growth reported in September.
ADM revealed PokerStars led online gaming in Italy, posting 10.6% of October’s revenue. Sisal came in second with 9%, Snaitech was third with 8.3% and Lottomatica followed at 8.2%.
Online gaming taxes in Italy
Italy’s government is planning to raise €650 million in new annual revenue from the online gaming industry. As part of that initiative, it sent its 2020 budget plan draft to the European Commission, seeking its approval.
The budget draft includes a plan that would increase taxes on revenue from amusement and prizes (AWP) and video lottery terminals (VLTs). If approved, the AWP rate would be introduced on February 10, 2020. The draft establishes that it would rise from 21.6% to 23%, while the VLT rate would rise from 7.9% to 9%.
In order to fight illegal gambling, the government wants to create a central registry for gambling licensees under the ADM. New measures include penalties of up to €1.3 million for financial institutions that process payments on behalf of unlicensed operators.
