AGSI seeks bridging measures as Italian retail concessions near expiry

Betting, bingo, AWPs and VLTs all see their concessions lapse on 31 December 2026. A decree intended to restructure the land-based market and define the terms of fresh tenders was put aside in August, missing the government's 29 August deadline. In response, the betting shop managers' association AGSI (Associazione Gestori Scommesse Italia) is asking for interim support covering gaming machines, horse racing and sports betting until new tenders take place.

The 29 August deadline set by the government came and went without the decree. Many observers anticipate a further extension, which according to the report would keep the network stuck in the years-long limbo it has known. Pasquale Chiacchio, president of AGSI, told the Italian trade outlet Jamma: "Gaming machines, horse racing and betting cannot wait three years."

Online operators already work under a new concession framework, and additional rules are due to apply from 13 November; the retail side, by contrast, has seen no reform begin. Shops still represent about three-quarters of a market valued at over €21 billion, the report said. Speaking at SBC Summit in Lisbon last month, IMGL co-founder Quirino Mancini predicted that no government, regardless of its political colour, would take on the retail reorganisation during the year preceding Italy's next general election. He described gambling as "a very sensitive issue" and said that explained the reform's stagnation. According to Mancini, the network's reorganisation was first mentioned in the 2016 Stability Law, roughly ten years ago, and the technical framework is mostly settled; what blocks progress, in his view, is politics rather than regulation.

On the same panel, Davide Diodato, CEO of Novomatic-owned HBG Online, contrasted nine-year online licences with retail concessions renewed annually, a situation he said makes investing or hiring difficult for shopkeepers. According to Chiacchio, players are shifting to online play, which offers round-the-clock availability plus more products and promotions, whereas shops face distance rules, limits on opening hours and permit obligations. He adds that commercial investment is following players online, so shops are left with costs going up and revenue going down. Ministry of Economy and Finance figures show total gaming tax revenue dropping 6.3% to €3.64 billion in the first half of 2026.

For AGSI, the transition should be spent improving what shops offer, such as new products distributed via agencies and authorised outlets; Chiacchio cites the 1998-1999 trial that introduced sports betting to horse racing agencies as a precedent. The association further seeks a consultation table bringing together government, institutions and industry to start work on tender rules without delay. Those rules, it says, should allow small and medium-sized businesses to compete for tenders alongside bigger groups, and should produce a more balanced national network staffed by trained personnel, with Campania's regional law offered as a model. Chiacchio cautioned that a legal network that shrinks would cede territory to illegal operators, and he contends that enforcement ought to focus on the black market instead of piling further restrictions on licensed shops.

Frustration is shared by the operators' association AGIC, whose members include Flutter, Lottomatica, Entain and Bet365; it has stated that successive extensions have denied the retail market long-term certainty for close to ten years, according to the report.