The battle for market share in Italy is intensifying as Lottomatica and Flutter go to battle in the newly formed online gambling landscape.
Although Lottomatica retains a slender advantage of 31.8% compared to Flutter’s reported 31%, Flutter will be buoyed by its trajectory in Italy.
Domestic giant Lottomatica has long held the number one status in Italy. However, Flutter has continued to push to rip up the script and rewrite the status quo in Europe’s second-largest gaming market.
Flutter efforts were fuelled by completing the acquisition of Snaitech in April 2025 to sit alongside its other Italian brands such as Sisal, Pokerstars, Tombola and Betfair.
Updating investors, Chief Executive Officer Peter Jackson described Flutter as the ‘clear number one operator online’, emphasising that the group is ‘outgrowing the market and our main competitors’.
In particular, he hailed engagement on Sisal of the MyCombo product, which allows players to build custom football accumulator bets pre-match. According to Flutter, multi-leg bets accounted for half of Sisal’s pre-match football wagering.
Flutter continues to grow
Data released in January by Agipro placed Flutter as holding a 26.5% market share in December, a month after control of the market transitioned to the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) under a new licensing system.
An almost 5% gain since the beginning of the year indicates the wave of momentum that Flutter is experiencing in Italy, and will serve as a stark reminder of the challenge facing Lottomatica.
For comparison, Lottomatica ended 2025 with an online market share of 31.3%, meaning the firm has gained just 0.5% over a similar period of time.
On Flutter’s Italy performance, Jackson noted that Snaitech is yet to benefit from the migration of customers to Flutter’s SEA platform, which was completed at the end of April.
He added: “I’m very excited about the outlook for the rest of the year in Italy, with Sisal’s ongoing, exceptional performance and the unlocking of Sisal’s market-leading products for Snaitech following the platform migration.”
Alongside Flutter, Lottomatica is also looking over its shoulder at a number of other international operators that are seeking to grow in the renewed Italian market.
Betsson, for example, reported record Q1 revenue in Italy and continues to gain market share. Meanwhile, multinationals bet365 and Entain, through Eurobet, also have a presence in Italy.
Despite these concerns, it’s not all doom and gloom for Lottomatica as the group reported 10% year-on-year growth in revenue to €265m (£229m) for its online gaming segment. Overall gross gaming revenue experienced modest growth of 2% YoY to €1.24bn (£1.1bn).
Strong growth across some of Italy’s largest operators indicates the overall strength of the online gaming market, which is now made up of 46 operators holding 52 licences collectively following the changes.
Encompassing both the old and new regimes, spending in the Italian market grew by over 15% to €3.2bn (£2.76bn) in 2025 compared to €2.8bn (£2.42bn) in 2024.
Questions still to answer
While Italy’s market appears to be shaping up well under this new ADM era, questions still remain over key advertising laws, in particular the 2018 Dignity Decree.
Under the legislation, sponsorship by gambling companies is completely prohibited. However, proposals have been submitted to repeal certain sections of the laws in a bid to revitalise Italian sport through the economic potential offered by gambling marketing spend.
ADM and the Senate’s Culture Commission are currently reviewing the prohibition as it seeks to strike a balance between consumer protection and marketing visibility.
Industry voices have argued that reducing the visibility of the regulated sector has inadvertently fueled the growth of Italy’s significant back market, estimated to be worth approximately €1bn annually.
