888 Launches Sports Book in Italy

After securing Italian online betting licensure last year, online operator 888 has launched its first sports book offering in the newly-liberalized Italian market.

"When Italy offered licenses, we basically took one," 888 Chief Executive Gigi Levy told IGN. "We think that the regulation there is going to change in the coming future to include poker and bingo, and we thought we'd better launch it sooner rather than later."

According to a prepared statement issued this morning, 888's new site, 888.it, was launched in conjunction with local partner and market specialist Cogetech.

For now, the site will limit its offering to fixed-odds betting on all national sports events as well as international events of interest, excluding horse races, though at a later stage will include national horse races and skill games.

Levy indicated the company was already anticipating other new games the country's gambling monopoly, the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies (AAMS), may wish to introduce.

"We want to build a strong base, so when additional games where we're specialists are going to be available, we'll be in a great position to be a leading player in that market," he said.