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Gambling Law in Italy

Gambling Law in Italy

Gambling is one of the industries bringing approximately 80 billion euros on annual basis to the Italian economy. Gambling was legalized in the 1900s, but the legislation has undergone modification throughout the years, so today Italy has one of the most modern and competitive gambling laws within the European Union.

The Italian gambling law

Italy has amended its gambling legislation on several fronts, thus providing companies setting up casinos significant advantages. In 2007, Italy modified its Finance Act with respect to card games of skill and in 2011 the real-money poker games and other casino operations were also legalized. The last amendment brought to the Italian gambling legislation was brought at the end of 2012 when slots machines operators were allowed to bring their businesses to Italy.

All gambling activities and licensing requirement for casino operators in Italy are supervised by the governmental agency Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies (Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stado, AAMS).

Modifications to the Italian gambling law

Even if the gambling legislation was modernized, at the beginning of 2015 discussions about the liberalization of sports betting were initiated. The current legislation for sports betting establishes that Italian companies are required to comply with the old legal framework that requires certification of every event as scheduled by the AAMS, but also with the new regime that allows operators to provide customized events. The draft gambling legislation now proposes the AAMS regulations to be stricken from the regulator. The new also aims to bring other changes, among which:

  • – new cash-in-my-bet rules,
  • – removal of a minimum threshold for bets,
  • – increasing the maximum winning.

The new Gaming Law will be set out to create more opportunities for Italian companies supplying sports betting operations. Italian internet cafes connecting to foreign online gaming companies may also be authorized to operate as betting shops. The new legislation should be enforced in July.

Taxation of gaming operations in Italy

The taxes applied by the Italian authorities to gambling operators are the following:

  • – 4.5% of the gross gaming revenue for sports betting,
  • – 20% on the gross profits of casinos,
  • – an 11% flat rate for bingo and other games of chance.

Poker tournaments are subject to a 3% tax rate of the total tournament buy-ins sold by the Italian operator.

For complete information about the new Gambling Law, please contact our lawyers in Italy.