Online Casinos in Italy Note Record High Revenue in March

Italy notes another strong month for online casinos and sports betting.

March has been a great month for the Italian regulated online gambling market as revenues reached record high figures. Moreover, according to reports, sports betting revenue doubled as well. Namely, online sports betting noted revenue of impressive €51.3 million last month, figure that reveals an y-o-y jump of 82.4%. It should be noted that this sector has been constantly growing in the country, noting similar record high results back in August, 2017 as well.

Online betting noted turnover of €546.2 million, meaning its jumped for modest 12.4%. On the other hand, retail betting revenues reached €59.8 million after witnessing turnover of €385.4 million. Just like every other month, the largest share of both revenue and turnover belongs to UK gambling giant Bet365; namely, the company’s share of the revenue was 16.3%, while it contributed with 29.2% towards the turnover. The top three list is rounded with Planetwin365 and Eurobet, while Snaitech and Sisal come right after them.

Nonetheless, the real surprise comes from online casinos, whose total revenue jumped for 27% y-o-y and reached €60.6 million. This figure represents a new record for the Italian market as it exceeds the revenue of €59.7 million scored in January.

PokerStars Brand Tops Online Casino Earnings

The PokerStars brand, owned by The Stars Group, was the major player on the online casino market with 9.3% share of the earnings. Local pride Lottomatica came second in this regard, scooping 8.8% of the total revenues in March. Sisal performed better in this sector, ending third and ensuring an 8.3% share. The top five list is concluded with Eurobet and 888 Holdings, which are responsible for respective shares of 6.2% and 5.5%.

Moving on to online bingo, this sector’s revenue reached €2.8 million; Tombola International was responsible for the largest market share of 44.5%, performing much better than Bwin and Sisial and their respective shares of 12% and 10%.

When it comes to online poker, tournament fees generated impressive €8 million and noted a 7.4% growth. Spending on cash games, however, grew only for 1.5% and reached modest €6.3 million. PokerStars, to nobody’s surprise, was responsible for 62.4% of the Italian tournament market, whereas the brand’s share in cash games jumped to 40.3%.

Even virtual sports boasted with nice revenue that reached €22.8 million last month; a total of €21.1 million, however, came from machines in retail venues. In this sector the Goldbet brand had the largest share of 27.8%, while Snaitech and Eurobet came right after it.

Italian Regulations Regarding Advertising May Soon Change

Despite the record-breaking figures when it comes to revenues, Italy hasn’t been immune to the global pressure for stricter gambling advertising regulations. Namely, Franco Mirabelli, Italian Senator, has already announced submitting a bill for reorganisation of the gaming sector; among the other proposals, it includes one to forbid the publicity within sports broadcasts.

He pointed out that the government must intervene in reducing the possible negative effects of gambling in the country; moreover, he claimed that there was an excess in promoting online gambling and gaming by sports networks.