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Italy’s Ministry of Economy received applications from 46 different companies for new online gambling licenses, each priced at €7m, according to the official tender sources from the Agency of Customs and Monopolies (ADM).
As the number of concessions available is set to be 52, the government’s target of raising €350m in revenue, outlined in ADM’s technical reports accompanying the gambling sector reform, has been met.
Mario Lollobrigida, head of the gaming division at ADM, responded to previous predictions from some analysts that there would only be around 30 applications.
“Given the continued growth of the sector in 2023 and 2024, and a 10 percent uptick in Q1 2025, it would have been shortsighted for operators to stay out,” he said.
Lollobrigida also addressed the €7m fee, saying market data reflected that it was an appropriate amount, adding that “if anything, we could have set it even higher”.
Among the applicants are well-established operators, including Italian and international companies such as Lottomatica and Flutter, which have applied for a maximum of five licenses each, as well as IGT, which has applied for one license.
Other well-known applicants include Novomatic, Eurobet, Betpoint, Netwin, Microgame, Stake, Daznbet, Marathonbet, E-Play24/Cirsa, and Evoke, which operates under two brands (William Hill and 888). Betsson, bet365, Stanleybet and MGM-owned LeoVegas also applied.
Once the applications have been approved, which is expected to take several weeks, operators will have six months to launch their websites under the new, stricter regulatory framework introduced by the government.
Currently, Italy’s online gambling market includes 81 licensees and recorded €5bn in gross gambling revenue (GGR) in 2024.
In total, 54 Italian operators manage roughly 320 websites, and 27 foreign operators manage around 100 sites.
However, the new ban on multiple “skins” or branded platforms being offered under a licence will reduce the number of active websites to approximately 50, as each licence must now correspond to a single domain.
A report by Cgia Mestre and industry association Astro, published in September 2024, estimated that the top 30 Italian licensees account for 94 percent of market revenue. It predicted that the high price for licences would lead to smaller operators leaving the market in the future, resulting in further consolidation.
In parallel, ADM recently prevailed in a prolonged legal battle with smaller online operators challenging the licensing fee.
The administrative courts sided with the agency, which argued that strong financial guarantees are essential to protect player funds and ensure the integrity of the system.
“It is absolutely necessary to entrust licences only to financially sound operators,” ADM stated in legal filings, “to prevent insolvencies that could jeopardise both players and the credibility of the regulatory framework”.
The courts also upheld new restrictions on online top-up operations. Cash-limit reloads over €100 and on withdrawals from gaming accounts, judges ruled, are justified as anti-money laundering measures. The regulator’s aim, they noted, is to curb the uncontrolled flow of funds and reinforce transparency in the gaming sector.
