Online gambling operator Bet365’s stranglehold on Italy’s online sports betting market is loosening, according to July’s official results.
Figures shared by Italian gaming news outlet Agimeg show Italian-licensed bookmakers generated total sports betting revenue of €86.5m in July, up 4% from June’s total. SKS365 topped the operator charts with a combined retail/online tally of €11.7m, just ahead of Snaitech’s €11.5m, while Eurobet ranked third with €9.8m.
Bet365 ranked sixth on the overall chart with €7.9m, but this was enough to put it atop the online betting chart. SKS365’s Planetwin365 brand wasn’t far behind with €6.5m, while Snaitech and Eurobet tied for third place with €3.3m. Total online betting revenue amounted to €38.3m, up 11.3% from June.
Italian-licensed bookies will get a further boost now that the country’s economy and finance ministry has approved them offering Asian handicap betting and cash-out features.
Online casino revenue surpassed sports betting in July, rising nearly 5% from June (and nearly 29% year-on-year) to €44.9m. For the year to date, the casino vertical has reported €313m, also up 29% over the first seven months of 2016.
Lottomatica topped July’s online casino charts with a 9.73% share of the overall pie, ending PokerStars’ one-month run as the online casino capo dei capi. But PokerStars wasn’t far back at 9.03%, while Sisal placed third with 8.22%, followed by Eurobet (6%) and William Hill (5.7%).
PokerStars did maintain its online poker dominance, capturing nearly 71% of July’s online tournament fees. Total tournament spending was €5.9m, down €100k from June but up nearly 23% year-on-year. For the year-to-date, tournament poker spending is up 17.4% to €49m.
PokerStars also maintained its lead in online poker cash games, although its share was a more modest 45.5%. Total cash game revenue came to €5.1m, bringing the year-to-date total to €41m, down 5.3% from the same period in 2016.
