Italy’s gaming market is on the brink of a major overhual following the decision to slash the number of online brands.
The Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) has confirmed that each licensee in the Italian market will now be limited to one website, ending the reselling of licensed betting and gaming products via ‘skin’ websites.
As a result of the decision, the number of online gaming websites in the country will be reduced from 407 to 52.
The new laws will come into force on 13 November and form part of Italy’s newly developed regulated online gambling framework. Overall, 46 different companies holding 52 licences will be present in the revamped market.
As part of the market launch, Italian authorities have also unveiled steps to combat the country’s significant illegal gaming market.
Alongside the ADM and the state-owned tech hub SOGEI, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is developing a “cyber security shield” to block connections to unauthorised gambling domains on devices with public internet access.
Any business offering public internet access will be required to install the anti-illegality software on devices such as PCs, kiosks and tablets.
Non-compliant operators who fail to use the shield will face fines, which will be higher if the devices detect organised access to gambling domains.
Any operator found putting devices in “closed browsing mode” with the clear objective of encouraging gamblers to connect to prohibited sites, reports the Italian gambling news source AgiproNews, may face higher fines or risk criminal charges for illegal betting.
Earlier this month, the ADM issued an order to block 23 unauthorised gambling site domains, pushing the total number of blacklisted domains to 11,481.
Despite these efforts, exposure to the black market remains high in Italy. In 2023, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) estimated that Italy faced around €1bn in illegal activity.
