The country is moving forward with planned changes that could impact profits and rewards
Recent reports indicate that Italy will implement wide reforms of its online gambling regulations in 2024 after the government officially approved the “Reorganization Decree” mandate needed to fix the industry’s ongoing disputes on January 2.
This Decree was proposed by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF) as the government will conduct the first regulatory evaluation of online gambling since it was approved in 2011. The objective is to provide gambler protections, primarily to minors, to raise tax revenue for social programs and government tasks, and to deter criminal activities.
The country will build a new regulatory framework, which will enforce a licensing fee of €7 million ($7.66 million) and include an additional 3% concessionaire’s operating fee. Providers must also pay a 0.2% annual fee based on their net earnings, which will fund gaming campaigns. They will be managed by the new gambling division supervised by Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM).
A maximum of 5 licensees are available for each provider, which includes Lottomatica, Flutter Entertainment, Entain, SKS365 and SNAI. The MEF wants to end the practice of “skin websites “selling separate gaming products, which the ADM previously had concerns about.
The government will wait to select which of the 83 Italian operators will receive the new iGaming license, of which “it is estimated that at least 50 operators will apply for the new concession.”
While the Decree advises the concessions are reviewed, it doesn’t define changes to the online gambling tax as the MEF will wait for the government to complete the reorganization of retail gambling regulations.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni supports reorganizing the gambling sector, observing that the industry is a crucial economic element, which raised €11 billion ($12.04 billion) in tax revenue two years ago.
