Italian government approves 2027 budget bill with €700m expected from gaming

Italy's Council of Ministers approved the 2027 budget bill on 28 October, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the gaming sector is expected to contribute €700m. The text of the bill's gaming provisions has not been made public, so the measures by which the sum would be raised are not known. The bill now goes to Parliament, where it can be amended.

A statement from the Council of Ministers, number 195, put the overall value of the intervention at about €26bn for 2027 and €27bn for 2028. It said the resources come mainly from the activation of safeguard clauses and from higher revenue from three sectors: finance, energy and gaming. A contribution was also requested from the ministries and the Presidency of the Council.

In her introductory remarks, Meloni set out the figures. She said more than €5bn would come from banks and insurers together with an increase in the Tobin tax, that energy companies are being asked for a further effort of about €700m, and that spending cuts at the ministries are worth around €1bn. She also said: "Non è una manovra contro qualcuno".

The announced figure is close to the €718m that was reported in the run-up to the Council meeting as expected from public gaming. With the articles not published, the options under discussion were reported as follows: an adjustment to the Preu, the single tax levy, which could rise by up to one percentage point, mainly on slots and VLTs; an extension of two or three years for physical concessions nearing expiry for betting, machines and bingo, against higher charges than previous renewals; recovery of sums still owed by the machine chain for the 2015 extraordinary levy; a possible three-year extension for Gratta e Vinci, whose concession expires in September 2028; a regularisation of LAN rooms and eSports spaces, along with limited interventions on online gaming. None of these measures is a definitive decision, and they are hypotheses, some of which had already emerged in September.

A final vote is expected by 31 December, so that the budget measure can take effect from 1 January 2027. The allocation of the contribution among machines, betting, lotteries and online will become clear only when the text is transmitted to Parliament.