Italy expects €700m a year from gambling in 2027 budget plan

Italy's government forecasts about €700m a year in additional revenue from gambling in 2027 and 2028, falling to about €500m in 2029, according to the 2027 budget planning document (DPB) sent to the European Commission and parliament. Over the three years the expected contribution is close to €1.9bn. The document does not yet identify the regulatory and tax measures through which the higher revenue would be raised; that is left to the budget bill.

The resources sit within a budget framework estimated at about €23.5bn for the first year. Among the options discussed is a further paid extension of concessions for AWP and VLT machines, retail betting and bingo, sectors whose concession terms have already been deferred repeatedly pending the reorganisation of land-based gambling. The concessions currently extended expire on 31 December 2026.

Reports in recent weeks also raise the possibility of a multi-year deferral, potentially to 2029, as an alternative to an extension limited to 2027. A longer extension would allow concession-fee revenue to be programmed over several years but would further delay competitive procedures to renew the licences.

For comparison, parliamentary documentation cited by Jamma put the annual revenue associated with the 2025-2026 concession extensions at €138.5m for AWP and VLT machines, €74.5m for betting and €19.76m for bingo, a total of about €232.76m a year. The gap with the roughly €700m annual target is more than €460m, suggesting that keeping the previous fee levels without changes would not by itself meet the planned result.

On the tax side, options under examination include a possible change to the PREU levy on cash-prize amusement machines under article 110, paragraph 6, letters a) and b), of the public security law, and to the single tax on prediction contests and betting. Any increase would have to be assessed against the tax base, the rate structure and the economic effects on concessionaires and the sales network.

For online gambling, the reorganisation under legislative decree 25 March 2024, no. 41, entered its operational phase in November 2025, with nine-year concessions and a revised system of economic, capital and organisational obligations. The source notes that the duration of a concession does not in itself make the tax regime unchangeable.

The national instant lottery concession for Gratta e Vinci is due to expire in September 2028. Some reports have suggested the budget bill could include provisions for the future award procedure; the source distinguishes any proceeds from that award from recurring tax revenue generated by gambling activity.