SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
120 Italian gaming licenses have been made available on a first come first served basis.
Legislators have launched a bidding process, with around 40 licenses expected to be issued to operators already present in the country’s gaming market looking to renew existing licenses.
Operators will be able to apply for licences in a number of gambling activities, such as sports betting, slots, bingo and casino. However, the governing body stipulates that if an operator does not already hold a European Union sanctioned online gaming license for the Italian market, with a minimum turnover of €1.5 million for a period of two years, it will be forced to secure an additional €1.5 million bank guarantees.
The deadline for the filing of the applications is 19th March and the applications will be opened on 19th April. Once the applications are filed there is usually a three to five month period from the application to the award of the license.
Operators wishing to take part in the bidding process must pay a €200,000 participation fee, with the process intended to raise €24 million in revenues for the state.
The prospect of applying for an Italian gaming license has been made more attractive by the recently-altered tax regime. Any issued licences will be valid until December 31st 2022, with operators including Winamax, Marathonbet and Pinnacle already expressing an interest in obtaining a licence.
