Online Gaming: Growth of the legitimate circuit

Offer extension, unlawful gaming restriction measures, taxation based on expenditure and rules to safeguard players have all led to recovering unofficial gaming activity with a consequent increase of game flows in the Italian legal circuit. Regulated gambling expenditure in Italy in 2016 reached 1.03 billion euros with a 25% growth, registering a 5.4% impact on the overall value of gaming (offline + online). Casino Games are still growing (+35%) reaching a total of 441 million euros, as are Sports Bets (+31%) worth 350 million €; Poker continues its downward trend (- 5%), down to 138 million €. Gaming is increasingly Mobile: 2016 shows a growth of the gaming offer, both in terms of initiatives and of games, as well as expenditure generated on Smartphones and Tablets which reaches 233 million € (+50%). 1.7 million Italians played at least once in 2016, with a 15% increase compared to 1.56 million of the previous year, The user base increase was registered also at a monthly level: average unique players per month are approximately 766,000, +15% from 664,000 in 2015. On average each player plays occasionally and spends 48€ a month on Online Gaming. The majority are men – women, rising slightly, focus on specific games (e.g. Bingo) –, reside in Central-Southern Italy (69%) and are between 25 and 44 years old (53%).