Under its Reorganisation of Gambling decree, overhauling the country’s wider gambling laws, the Italian government has published the amendment detailing its revised framework of licences for online gambling concessions.
The objective of the entire exercise is to resolve legal issues between the Customs & Monopolies Agency (ADM) and licensed operators, having endured a fundamental disagreement over licence renewal terms, resulting in a government intervention suspension of the termination of licences to expire in 2023 and 2024.
The new concessions will see licences set to a nine-year limit and priced at €7m, with operators paying a premium of 35 times the previous price of €200,000 for online gambling licences, as set in 2018. In addition, each licence will be subject to an annual fee of 3% of GGR after taxes.
New technical requirements will also be applied, as applicants must ensure that platforms have playing limits set by customers and send warning messages when limits are due to be exceeded. The ADM will also be granted further powers, including blocking payments, to combat unlicensed online activity.
Italian trade association Logico says that the price rise will restrict fair competition, playing into the hands of the largest groups in the country, such as Lottomatica, SNAI, Entain and Flutter.
The Ministry of Economy & Finance expects at least 50 operators to apply for the concession to renew licences, forecasting taxation from gambling income to increase by €350m in the next two years, with concession fees alone generating €100m.
