A Robust Summer Has Italy Revenues Up, but a New Litmus Test Beckons
Published September 17, 2018 by Lee R
After a wild World Cup season, Italy seems to be settling down to business nicely so far.
Big names are spurring on the Italian market, but even bigger ones are about to test it’s resilience.
The regulated sports market suffered no more than a slight dip in August after the summer of punt’s two month World Cup extravaganza.
August Holds
Italian gaming affiliate Agimeg has published figures indicating combined retail and online sports betting revenue reaching €111.4m for an incredibly healthy 34.4% improvement boost year-on-year along with a minimal drop from July’s €114.3m.
The online wagering vertical in Italy accounted for just short of $50 m for July to register a 27.8% year-on-year rise.
Leading Punting Gainers
Bet365 proved to be the leading individual gainer with a 17.1% share of that vertical take, with runner-up SKS365 (14.9%) and Playtech Italian offering Snaitech (10.5%).
The take brings the total for online betting revenue up 41.5% to €411.4m.
Retail Betting
Leading the retail betting market was Gamenet/Goldbet at 18.7%. Snaitech placed second at 16.5% and GVC Holdings’ Eurobet third at 14.7%.
Virtual Betting
The virtual betting vertical also showed gains, generating €20.5m in revenue for August, of which €19m was collected via retail outlets.
Virtual betting revenue totals topped out at €170m, with €157.5m contributed from retail.
Online Casino Revenue
Online casino revenue in the Italian market climbed 26% year-on-year to €56.5m, with PokerStars leading at 9.7%, Lottomatica second at 8.9% and Sisal third at €8.4%.
These figures brought the 2018 take for casino revenue up over €100m year-on-year at €458.8m.
Online Poker Issue
Online poker was the only glaring soft spot in the market, with cash game revenues down 6.9% to €4.8m and tournament fees down 5.9% to €5.6m.
PokerStars also was the lead earner in cash games revenue with a 42.1% share of cash games and 64.8% of the tournament.
In 2018, cash games revenue has now fallen almost €2m to €44.1m, as tournaments remained relatively flat at €55m.
New Ad Ban
The biggest modifier on the horizon for revenues in Italy is the new ban on gambling advertising and sponsorships set to take effect January 1, 2019.
Outlook
With subtle resultant factors such as Google adjusting algorithms to permit “only state lotteries with deferred drawing” to be seen in advertising to Italian residents, unknown level of filtering may mitigate traffic. Only time will tell. For now, the market remains robust.
