Online sports betting on the rise in Italy
Operators in the sports betting market reported good results in May after a setback suffered the previous month.
Italy.- Italian gaming news outlet Agimeg reported that online sports betting operators in the country experienced a turnover rise of 6.4 per cent year-on-year to €518 million during last month operations.
Betting revenue also increased 40 per cent to €40.8 million, and for the first five months of the year, online betting revenue has increased 46.4 per cent to €262.4 million. On the other hand, retail betting turnover decreased five per cent to €355 million, while revenue increased by 9.4 per cent to €52.1 million.
Bet365 managed to top the betting charts once again with a 17.6 per cent share, closely followed by SKS365 at 14.9 per cent. Snaitech completed the third position with a 1.5 per cent share, as Snai claimed the first spot on the land-based operations with a 13.1 per cent share.
Online casino operators totalled €57.3 million in revenue during last month operations, which represents a 23 per cent increase over May 2017. PokerStars claimed a 9 per cent share of the market, slightly higher than Lottomatica’s 8.64 per cent and Sisal’s 8.3 per cent.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) will push through new anti-money-laundering (AML) standards for the betting industry. The regulatory body will enforce new registration requirements for gamblers, as operators will have to record all player account transactions and financial movements to inform the ADM.
Moreover, the new coalition government in Italy issued a decree this week that calls for the total prohibition of gambling advertising, and said to a local radio station that the coalition is planning to modify the industry and would start with the advertising sector. Nevertheless, the new deputy premier said that the coalition is not out to eliminate gambling altogether because that would mean that organised crime groups would be in charge of the industry.
