November Revenues Show Italian Sports Betting Market Dropped Before World Cup; iGaming Remained Stable

Official figures show that Italy’s sports betting market dropped in the time leading to the FIFA World Cup.

Pre-World Cup Revenue Drop

November revenue dipped slightly to €322.5m in the lead-up to December’s World Cup, dropping €331.1m in October.

New Scale

After achieving a volume landmark cracking €300m in September 2022, Italy’s overall iGaming revenue has remained stable.

Comparative Figures

November’s €322.5m figure represents a 2.6% decline month-on-month, but a healthy 6.0% increase year-on-year.

Biggest Drops

The biggest drop for the month was sports betting’s decline of 4.3% was the biggest drop for November, with revenue of €126.3m. Other declines were relatively uniform across the board.

Retail Sports Betting

Retail sports betting took a more significant dip of 16.4% month-on-month, dropping from €88.6m in October to €74.1m in November.

Casino Revenues

Casino revenues were less glaring, at 2.1% from €180.0m to €176.1m.

GGR

GGR market shares for individual online casino operators remained relatively stable in November.

Operator Performance

Eurobet dropped the most, falling from fifth position to seventh in the Italian market with a market share of 6.1%. Lottomatica/Goldbet held onto pole position with a total market share of 12.7%. A new arrival in the top 20 was Tombola International (1.2% market share for November).

Online Sports Betting Operators

The movement of online sports betting companies in November remained relatively stable. The biggest mover was Bet365, jumping from 9.7% to 11.4% market share. The biggest loser was SKS365, dropping from 10.5% to 9.5% market share. Lottomatica/Goldbet maintained the lead (15.7%), but Sisal came on strong to the second sport at 15.4%.

Retail and Sports Betting

The combined online and retail sports betting market showed the biggest drop from Lottomatica/Goldbet (23.6% to 21.8%), with Snai in second at 15.3% market share for November.

Strongest Performer

Pokerstars’ 44.96% increase in Italy’s market share for poker tournament play was up from 40.58% in October, for their highest market share since April 2022 when they held 48.75%.

Cash Games

In the cash games field, the increase was less substantial, with Pokerstars’ share up to 40.32% from 39.66% in October. Overall both cash game and tournament market shares remained stable month-to-month, with E-Play 24 seeing the most significant drop from 12.38% market share in cash games in October to 10.21% in November. November also welcomed Microgames as a new entry into the Top 10 for poker cash games, replacing Bgame at #10 with a market share of 1.6%.

Outlook

Despite the surprising lull before the World Cup, the stability of the Italian market shows positive maturity and sustainability, a good sign for one of Europe’s key markets.