Italy’s revamped online gambling market has officially gone live as of today, 14 November.  

The new licences issued by the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) officially came into effect at 7am, with the original midnight rollout plan delayed due to slight technical difficulties.  

The original deadline for the ADM to approve new licences was 17 September, although this was pushed back to 12 November. 

Under the new regime, the amount of licences available has been streamlined to 52, down from 91 under the old system.  

A total of 46 brands have been granted new licences. Each licence will be valid for nine years and cost €7m (£6.2m). 

New licence holders have paid €4m of the fee up front, with the remaining €3m to be paid in due course. 

This will generate revenue of €364m for the Italian government, surpassing the initial projections of €350m from Italy’s ministry of economy (MEF). 

Both the ADM and MEF have forecast that the new market could generate more than €5.5bn in annual GGR by 2026. 

The new system will prohibit the operation of skins, whereby operators could run multiple sites under a single licence. 

The revamped market has imposed a strict one-domain-per-licence policy, meaning every separate brand must have its own dedicated licence. 

Operators are also obliged to enable player registration via Italy’s SPID digital ID or electronic ID card, with spending caps and access to self-exclusion tools remaining mandatory. 

Both Lottomatica and Flutter have been granted five licences each, the maximum amount allowed for one operator. 

Flutter’s Sisal, Snaitech and PokerStars brands all applied for separate licences, as per the new regulations. 

Other notable operators to be granted a licence were bet365 via its Hillside (New Media Malta) brand, evoke and Betsson. 

Operators including Betway, Unibet and 1xBet have declined to renew their respective licences and subsequently exited the Italian market. 

Don’t miss our annual Italy Briefing on 21 November at the Rome Cavalieri, where leaders from operators and affiliates will discuss and debate the most pressing issues in the Italian igaming industry, including the new licensing regime. Find out more here

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