Revenue Increases for Italy’s Online Gambling Industry in May 2016

The Italian online gambling industry made forward strides in May 2016 after posting strong financial results. For May, the industry benefitted from a 30.3% revenue increase to €34.7 million. That positivity contributed to a larger trend in which revenue during the 2016’s first five months were €175 million, which represented a 35.6% increase on the first five months of 2015.

Leading Operators in Italy

Within the industry, there are five online gambling operators accounting for more than 40% of all revenue. Lottomatica is the undisputed leader with a 12.2% share, coming in ahead of Sisal on 9.2%. The shares are closer among the next three operators, with William Hill on 6.9%, Eurobet on 6.1%, and PokerStars on 5.8%.

Online Poker Growth

Online poker was a promising sector within the financial results, as there was 7.7% growth to reach €4.4 million for May 2016. However, this was offset slightly by an 18.6% increase in tournament earnings to €38.4 million compared to May 2015. But this did result in a 9.6% decline in cash game revenues, which were valued ay €5.9 million.

PokerStars Dominating Sector

PokerStars is the clear leader in online poker, considering the operator held a 72.8% revenue share as of May 2016. For cash game earnings, PokerStars was credited with a smaller 47.6% share. Another key development was PokerStars’ launch of casino games, which contributed to the brand placing as the fifth largest online gambling operator in Italy.

Closed Poker Market

A curious aspect of the Italian online gambling industry is that poker is run as a closed market, making it possible for an operator of PokerStars’ scale to rise to such a dominant position. Basically, this restriction means that Italian sites are not permitted share their player pools with other countries, such as the UK. This is similar to the markets in France and Spain.