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Legal gaming in Italy, after the collapse of wagers in the years of the pandemic, beat the crisis and reached 136 billion with an increase of 23.1% on 2019. Net of winnings in 2022, players’ spending was 20, 3 billion. Fundraising is a value which, just to have an easily understandable reference, is equal to 7.1% of GDP, while the sector has a turnover of more than 11 billion euros. A recovery trend from which revenues for the state benefit: tax revenue is 11.2 billion, a value in line with the 2019 figure when it was 11.4 billion. The role of the State is seen by almost everyone as that of a regulator, which sets the rules and controls the regularity of the activity, as well as to avoid the inclusion of organized crime. As far as checks are concerned, in 2022 almost 22 thousand businesses were scanned (+20.6% on 2021) and two thirds of 2019. Checks on websites led to the closure of 261 sites. This is what the Second Lottomatica – Censis report reveals, concentrated on legal gaming, practiced by 47% of Italians who have played Lotto, Superenalotto. sports betting, slot machines and online games.
A key role is that of the concessionaires who must have capital solidity, reliability, integrity, professionalism and independence among the requisites. About 36,000 people are employed in the sector, of which 28,000 are employees. If we add to these all those who work in establishments that have other main vocations, but within which it is also possible to play, the total number of people who directly or indirectly operate in the legal gaming system is estimated at around 150,000 people. «From the second Report that we prepared together with Censis, the social and economic value of legal gaming clearly emerges, which increasingly represents a reference asset for the country – explains Guglielmo Angelozzi, CEO of Lottomatica -. The Italians consider the role of the State and the activity of the concessionaires to be decisive and believe that a reduction in legal gaming would strengthen the illegal one. We will therefore continue to guarantee our maximum commitment to ensure the right rules on the matter, in the awareness of carrying out a useful function for employment and entrepreneurial development”.
In recent years, an outsider has established itself in the sector: online gaming. Funding reached 67.2 billion with a + 36.5% on 2020 and almost 31 billion more than in 2019 (+84.6%). It’s not just a direct consequence of the health emergency that led to the closure of cinemas but a digital path that has the new generations as protagonists. In 2011, the weight of online gaming was 12.3% of the total, which rose to 32.9% in 2019, 55.8% in 2020 and 60.4% in 2021, for a total of 15.9 million active online accounts, 4.9 million of these, equal to 30.6%, opened in 2021. «Legal gaming has social value because it is a mass activity that involves millions of Italians who enjoy themselves and chase, even if only for a moment, a dream, and it has economic value because it feeds a system made up of businesses, workers and revenues for the state – concludes Giuseppe De Rita, President of Censis -. The Italians ask to be able to play in peace and security within a system in which the State must establish the perimeter within which to play and the concessionaires must enforce it».