The Italian council of Ministers has approved the legislative decree implementing the reorganization of the remote gambling market. The purpose of the Act is to rationalize and update the framework of the licencing system by increasing the cost of the licence and applying stricter rules.

The one-off payment of €7 million is justified by the increase of the gaming collection recorded between 2019 and 2023 (+127%): from €36.4 billion to €82.5 billion with a further growth expected for the years to come.

The number of licences available will be 50, meaning that the Italian Treasury expects to receive €350 million in 2025, 200 at the assignment of the licences and 150 at actual commencement of service which will be no later than six months from the assignment.

Besides the abovementioned payment, the licensees will have to also pay an annual fee equal to 3% of the operator’s net revenue. Moreover, an annual fee equal to 0.2% of the operator’s net revenue will be earmarked for gambling addiction awareness campaigns.

Furthermore, the possibility to use cash for remote gaming will be almost prevented by the obligation for top up points of sale (PVRs) to accept only traceable means of payment for top up operations of over €100. PVRs will have to be listed in a register for an annual fee of €100.

White labels will become illegal since no website or app belonging to the licensee shall be made available to third parties by any technological means whatsoever. The expected next step will be the reform of land based gaming.

Interested in a chat about the licencing process or the general gaming compliance in Italy or other jurisdictions? Speak to Lawrence Marchese (lawrence@chevron.group), Mel McElhatton (melissa@chevron.group), Kurt Laferla (kurt@chevron.group) and Thees Buschmann (thees@chevron.group) from Chevron Group. Follow us on LinkedIn for more industry related news.

Quelle: Chevron Consultants e.K.