In Italy, Monthly Turnover Rises Again

April’s figures for the Italian gaming sector revealed continuing growth, led by online gaming, Superenalotto and slots. But bingo and horseracing both fell at a faster rate than ever.

Turnover in April ensured that spend on gaming in the first four months of the year rose to 17.6 billion euros, up 10 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Overall gaming spend in April was up substantially over the same month last year. Total turnover amounted to approximately 4 billion euros, half of which came from slot-machine spend.

The country’s love of slots appears to know no bounds, and scratchcards, too, continue to register substantial year-on-year growth. Both products saw increases of around 12 percent in April, while sports betting and Superenalotto rose 18 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

However, bingo was down over 34 percent and betting on horseracing continued its negative trend with total stakes falling 16 percent in April.

Thanks in large part to the introduction of skill games, which clocked up 188 million euros in April, the online business is showing unparalleled growth in a country where, until recently, Internet connectivity lagged behind most of its European neighbors. Online turnover nearly doubled in the last six months, with April’s figure, 323 million euros, up 82 percent over the 177 million euros reported in October.

The poor performance in horseracing, meanwhile, has led AAMS, the Italian gaming authority, to announce a raft of reforms. Significantly, the authority has indicated that tax levels on betting on racing will be reviewed.

Raffaele Ferrara, the director general of AAMS, revealed in an interview in the Italian media that “with sports betting we saw that a lower percentage tax was more than compensated for by an increase in volume." That fact was confirmed by first-quarter figures showing an increase of 4.5 percent in contributions to the Treasury -- the take amounting to just below 3 billion euros.

Over the next four months bingo is expected to fall a further 15 percent, but reform is on the way, with online bingo and networked prizes to be on offer in bingo halls by the summer.

The only other loser amongst Italy’s gaming products is the traditional Lotto, which has trended downward since the Superenalotto numbers betting game was introduced at the beginning of the decade.

Following the 100-million-euro rollover last fall, spending on Superenalotto has been growing consistently. Of all the government's products, Superenalotto rose at the greatest clip between January and April, up 33.5 percent to 824.2 million euros.

The only question on the minds of operators in the Italian market is how long the trend can last.