Italian Internet Gambling Posts Revenue Gains

Business is booming for the Italian internet gambling with companies reporting solid gains for the first half of 2015. The new numbers aren’t just good for the internet gambling industry as a whole, they’re also a rare European gaming liberalization success story.
The big news for Italian facing operators and affiliates is that overall igaming revenues in Italy was up 9% over the previous year. Operators reported €398 million ($436 million (USD) in earnings for the first half of 2015.
Much of that gain, according to a report on CalvinAyre.com, came from the country’s robust online sector which was up 24% over the previous year.
On the sports betting side, Italian online bookmakers reported massive gains, including a turnover of €1.3 billion ($1.42 billion USD) – that’s up a whopping 90% over the same period in 2014. Revenue at those sites rose 18% to €126 million ($138 million USD).
Unfortunately, not every sector of the Italian internet gambling market was in the black for the first half of 2015.
The long suffering Italian online poker vertical reported a revenue drop of 15% to €82 million ($89 million USD). Revenue from cash games, a traditional cash cow, was down 22% to just €6.1 million ($6.8 million USD).
The one bright spot for the poker vertical was the tournament sector where revenue was up 15% from this time last year.
Unfortunately, the Italian internet gambling boom might not last for an extended period. Italian lawmakers are considering a host of bills that, if passed into law, could seriously impact the industry’s bottom line.
At the same time, the addition of new market players, thanks to market liberalization, is a success story that shouldn’t be overlooked.