Bet365’s traditionally vice-like grip on Italy’s online sports betting market loosened somewhat in September.
Figures released this week by the Agimeg news agency show Italian-licensed online sports betting turnover of €369m in September, up 37% from the same month last year and 19% higher than the amount wagered in August 2016.
Bet365’s Italian site once again stood proud atop the chart of individual operator turnover with €129m, which is €6m higher than August’s total, but Bet365’s share of September’s overall pie fell to 35% from 39.7%. Gala Coral Group’s Eurobet brand held on to its distant second ranking with €34.5m, but this was up sharply from €27m in August.
The rest of the top-five posted solid gains in September, led by Sisal (€25.6m, +€5.5m), Snai (€24.6m, +€4.9m) and William Hill (€23.6m, +€6.6m). Paddy Power Betfair slipped from fifth to eighth place despite improving €600k to €18.2m while Betaland.it, which only launched in June, made the turnover top-10 for the first time with an even €10m.
The Italian market’s online casino revenue hit €37.6m in September, a 32.5% year-on-year gain. Over the first nine months of 2016, the casino vertical has generated €315.3m, 36.3% higher than in the same period last year.
On the online poker front, cash game spending fell more than 10% year-on-year to €218.4m while tournament fees rose 11.7% to €66.5m. PokerStars’ share of the tournament business was virtually unchanged from August at 74.2% while its cash games share slipped from 50.9% to 47.3%. No other operators scored double-digit shares of either tournaments or cash games.
Meanwhile, Italy’s online gambling regulator AAMS continues to do its best to ward off those pesky internationally licensed operators who dare let their signals drift over Italy’s digital borders. This week, AAMS announced that its online gambling blacklist had expanded to a hefty 6,100 domains. Only another couple thousand or so and they’ll finally get to collect that free hoagie.
