Italy wants €700m from gambling, one lawyer doubts it
Lawyers warn the plan could push bettors to unlicensed sites that pay no Italian tax.
The hit
Giorgia Meloni’s Cabinet approved a €26bn budget on Wednesday that counts on €700m from gambling, according to iGB. The Draft Budgetary Plan sent to Brussels pencils in €718m for 2027 & 2028, falling to €478m in 2029, but the precise measures are not yet public.
Why it matters
Industry lawyers say the money will likely come from costlier licence extensions on slots, betting shops & bingo halls, plus a possible rise in the PREU levy on machines. Giulio Coraggio of DLA Piper warns that squeezed margins mean worse odds & fewer bonuses, pushing bettors toward offshore sites that pay no Italian tax. Retail closures could also hand ground to unlicensed operators.
The record
| Annual revenue from current licence extensions | €232.76m |
|---|---|
| Slot revenue change, Q2 | down 5.7% (ADM, Italy’s gambling regulator) |
| Gambling tax receipts lost, first eight months | about €200m (Court of Auditors) |
| Unauthorised gambling sites blocked, 2025 vs 2024 | up 44% (ADM) |
| Licence fee paid by 46 online operators, about a year ago | €7m each, 35 times the old fee |
What happens next
Italy’s Chamber of Deputies is expected to vote on the budget by mid-December, with the Senate to follow by year’s end.
Sources: Italy’s gambling tax: a losing hand?
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