Italy's Growth Puzzles, with Overall Growth the Larger Priority
Published February 12, 2019 by Lee R
Italy seems to be growing, though prognosticating a chart might be difficult in light of newly released market figures.
The Italy market is looking like a proper spaghetti, and that's not a bad thing for iGaming.
Annual Figures
As for the numbers, Italy’s regulated sports betting market revenue came in just shy of $1.5b in 2018, a sizeable figure that would belies significant slowing of growth.
The Take for 2018
The exact figures reported by Italy’s Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) gambling regulatory body have revenues for sports betting operators at €1.484b in 2018, representing a 10.8% climb from 2017. The total for betting turnover came in at €10.9b, representing a jump of €1b.
Land-based Wagering
As for land-based wagering, the total came in at €840m, representing an approximate jump up of 7% from 2017. The total for online betting revenue topped €643m, for a 16% jump.
Online Betting
Curiously, the growth figure for online betting revenue in 2017 was some four times higher, at 44.5%, even with the World Cup revving activity in 2018.
December's Underwhelming Contributions
Annual growth did not get any extra help from end-of-the-year momentum, with December sports revenue diving 55% year-on-year to €96.4m thanks to a high volume of punter-favored results.
More destabilizing results included land-based betting slipping two-thirds to €49.4m and online betting's 43% cliff dive to €47m.
December Leaders
Individually for the month, Bet365 retook the top spot for online betting with a 17.3% share, November leader Planetwin365 slipped to second at 14.8% and Snaitech pulled third at 11.9%.
Online Carries the December Day
By no means did iGaming underperformed in Italy's regulated market for December, because on the other side of that coin the online casino revenue in December rose a record 20.3% to €70.5m.
Online Casino for the Year
The results brought online casino's totals for 2018 in Italy to €710m, an increase of nearly one full quarter.
Individual Casino Leaders
As for individual online casino performers, Stars Group’s PokerStars brand led in both December (11.1%) and for the full-year (9.6%), with Lottomatica ranked second in both categories at 8% and 8.6% respectively.
Roll With the Change
In Italy, different verticals and unexpected results may spin the market, but look for fundamental growth to continue from the axis, with respect for the fact that there is no reason each market may not have some unique cultural characteristics of expansion.
