Italy begins revamp of online-gambling regulatory framework

Italy has announced that it has officially floated the tender for its revised regulatory framework for online-gambling operators and services, thus opening the door for operators to apply for new licenses that will be required for all operators serving the country by late 2025.

Online operators seeking to continue or begin serving the country’s online gamblers will have until May 30, 2025 to submit applications for licenses. The application fee is a hefty €7 million, with €4 million due up front and another €3 million due before launching with the revised licensing, which for most successful applicants will occur by September 2025. Each licensee will also pay a 3% tax on revenue annually, along with a smaller assessment to support anti-corruption initiatives. Each licensee must agree to guarantee another €3.7 million annually overall to cover the minimum tax on revenue expected to be generated

The revised regulatory scheme is designed to weed out smaller operators and those of less than stellar standing elsewhere in the European Union. Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM), which will oversee the process, expects that about 50 total licenses will be approved, resulting in a €350 million influx from application fees alone. License applicants must also prove existing revenue of at least €3 million over each of the past two years.

The expected 50 total licensees that the ADM will approve will come from a smaller pool of companies, as the new regulatory scheme allows each corporate owner to seek approval for up to five licensees each.

Online-poker woes not yet addressed

The new licensing regime is just the first phase of a a broader overhaul of Italy’s iGaming regulatory framework, the first such modernization since 2011. The second phase, set to begin next year, will focus on modernized regulations governing Italy’s land-based casino industry, along with matters that affect the industry as a whole.

Among those matters will be the reconsideration of Italy’s current ban on gambling advertising of any type, which was institued in 2019, and a push toward uniformity in gambling laws across Italy’s regions. Roberto Alesse, Director General of the ADM, stated, “We must adapt national standards to those required by Europe.” 

That push for uniform national standards will shelve, for the time being, lobbying efforts by online-poker operators for Italy’s online players to be allowed to be pooled with most other European players on well-regulated, EU-based platforms. Early in 2024, counsel for GGPoker testified before Italy’s senate on how such a return from being a ‘firewalled’ online-poker country would be an economic gain for Italy with little increased regulatory risk. Those industry-based desires, however, will have to wait.