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Italy’s betting, bingo, slots and online gaming concessions have been extended by a year after they were set to expire at the end of 2022.
A government amendment to the Budget Law 2023 has set a new expiry date of December 31, 2024 for Italian gambling concessions, which the Treasury expects to be worth €275.2m in tax income over the next two years.
The existing online casino concessions were set to expire on December 31, 2022, but will now run for another 24 months.
Payments for the concessions are due in two equal instalments by January 14 and July 1 of this year, but costs vary between €32,800 and €53,600 depending on when the permits were first issued.
Betting concessions, meanwhile, were not set to expire until June 30, 2024, but have also been extended by six months to line up with gaming licences. Approvals for bingo that were set to be re-issued in a tender in March of this year have also been extended until the end of 2024.
The same is true for slots and video lottery terminal licences, which will now expire on December 31, 2024, after originally being due to run out in June of this year. Each gaming machine concessionaire will pay a yearly fee "increased by 15 percent”, according to the budget law.
A final change sees the possibility of tax settlements with the gambling regulator, the Agency of Customs and Monopolies (AGM). The law will allow operators to pay an amount equal to the value of the tax dispute, without sanctions and late fees.
New government, new ministers
Aside from the much-publicised advertising ban, Italian gambling politics have for the past few years been tightly bound up with attempts to “reorganise” the country’s land-based industry.
Numerous attempts have been scuttled by the need for regional leaders to agree to the government plan, but the newly-elected right-wing coalition appears to be making moves for another tilt at brokering an agreement.
Sandra Savino, a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, was recently appointed as a Treasury undersecretary, officially tasked with handling relations with the AGM, as well as general gaming industry issues.
Another Treasury undersecretary, Federico Freni, who handled gambling issues during the latter part of the previous administration, is still in the picture. Officially he will be responsible for interfacing with the state-regions conference body that needs to sign off on the reorganisation plan.
However, insiders and lobbyists in Rome have said that all gambling issues will in fact go through the deputy leader of the Treasury, Maurizio Leo, and the deputy head of the Cabinet office, Italo Volpe. Freni will act in a supporting role, but Savino could in reality be given only the job of “spokesperson” on public gaming issues, insiders have told VIXIO.
