Aside from the growth of the sports betting industry itself, you also have a huge segment of online wagering that is growing. Italy’s online market shows this. This is not a random situation as well, since the top pay per head provider in the industry is seeing in increase in signups and sportsbooks across the world. With a flexible and fully customizable sportsbook software, one can manage players from different betting markets on an international level.
And using a per head sportsbook can help bookies manage their books better, especially if the market of players are growing steadily. In Italy, the revenue for 2018 was hardly different from 2017’s. However, the proportion of online wagers versus wagers placed in physical shops are very different.
Italy’s Online Market
The overall gambling market revenue of Italy for 2018 was at €18.9 billion. Out of this amount, €17.2 billion is from land-based gambling. This is around 1.7% lower than the previous year. Meanwhile, online wagers are at €1.6 billion, which is 18% higher than the previous year’s.
The decrease in land-based revenue is mostly due to lower revenues from slots, lottery scratch cards, and lotto. However, online betting revenue is up by 10.4% at €1.4 billion. As for online casinos, revenue is up at almost a quarter at €710 million. In addition, virtual sports wagers show a 14.1% increase at €267 million. Online poker is 1.2% less at €82 million, while other cash games are also down 7.1% at €65 million.
These numbers remain despite conflicts and issues on gambling in the country. Italy’s proposed advertising ban is considered limiting to the rights of local operators to promote their businesses. The numbers are also high for sports betting due to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It could be a temporary increase due to football’s biggest tournament, or it could also just mean a growing betting market is emerging this site of the world.