Italy’s online gambling market showed good gains in its casino and sports betting verticals, while poker continued its inexorable decline.
Citing stats from Italian gambling regulatory AAMS, Agimeg.it reported that Italian-licensed online casino sites generated revenue of €327.5m in 2015, a 31.2% improvement over 2014’s figures.
Lottomatica (GTech) was the online casino market leader, holding a 14.7% share. Sisal was a distant second at 9.7%, while William Hill ranked third with 8.3%. Hills began 2015 with a casino share of 9.4% in January but fell to 7.1% in December, the biggest drop of 2015 among online-only casino operators.
The rest of the top 10 online casino sites shook out thusly: Snai (6.3%), Gala Coral’s Eurobet brand (6.2%), Bwin (5.4%), 888 Holdings (4.5%), Novomatic’s Greentube-Starvegas (3.3%), Winga (2.8%) and Paddy Power (2.8%).
Italy’s sports betting handle rose 28% to €5.5b, largely due to a surge in online wagers. Online handle was up nearly 80% to €2.8b while revenue was up 19% to €254m. Bet365 dominated the handle chart with €1.05b, more than SNAI-Cogetech’s combined online and land-based handle of €813.5m and Lottomatica brands Better/ Totosì’s €711.5m.
As for online-only sports betting charts, Bet365’s handle was nearly quadruple its closest rival, Eurobet, at €276.5m, while William Hill managed €233.5m. The rest of the online top-10 looked like this: Better/ Totosì (€212.6m), Sisal (€192.8m), SNAI-Cogetech (€189m), Paddy Power (€160m), Bwin (€157.7m), Betclic (€47.5m) and Goldbet (€39.2m).
Bet365’s market dominance is all the more impressive given that it only launched its Italian site in September 2014. The company’s timing was perfect, as its arrival coincided with regulatory changes that dramatically expanded the types of wagers licensed operators could offer Italian punters.
Sadly, there’s no such cure for online poker’s ills. Tournament revenue fell 4.2% to €71.3m while cash games slumped 22.3% to €83.7m. Online bingo also had a bad year, falling 7.1% to €25.3m.
