Italy’s 2027 budget bill proposes extending Bingo concessions to 2029
Regulation2 min read
In brief
- Italy's 2027 budget bill proposes extending Bingo concessions due to expire on 31 December 2026 until 31 December 2029.
- Monthly fees would range from €6,500 to €14,500 under 81 turnover bands, based on the previous year's turnover.
Italy's 2027 budget bill proposes extending Bingo concessions that expire on 31 December 2026 until 31 December 2029, under article 27 of the draft law. The extension is intended to maintain collection, public supervision functions and related state revenue while a wider reform of the distribution and collection of public gambling on the physical network is prepared, according to the bill text.
Operators would pay a monthly fee for the provisional continuation of their concessions, calculated on the turnover each concession produced in the year immediately before the year for which payment is due. The text defines turnover as the total value of game cards bought by the concessionaire and sold in the relevant hall, not company profit.
For the extension period the bill sets 81 turnover bands. Halls with annual turnover of up to €1.2m would pay €6,500 a month; each of the 80 following bands, corresponding to a €200,000 turnover increase, adds €100. The maximum of €14,500 a month would apply to halls with annual turnover above €17m.
The bill gives examples: a hall with annual turnover of €2m would pay €6,900 a month, or €82,800 a year; a hall with €5m would pay €8,400 a month, or €100,800 a year; halls at the maximum level would face an annual charge of €174,000. Payment would be due by the tenth day of the month following the reference month. For part-months longer than 15 days the full monthly fee would be due, while for 15 days or fewer the amount would be halved.
Amounts already paid above what the new criteria require would be set against payments for subsequent months, up to the amount owed; the bill does not provide for an immediate refund of excess sums. Where recalculation shows amounts still due, concessionaires could pay in up to 12 monthly instalments. The operational rules for paying fees for earlier periods would be set by a later measure from the Agenzia delle dogane e dei monopoli.
The bill text links the recalculation of past fees to litigation in recent years over the legality and criteria for determining the fees requested from concessionaires during extension periods. It says operators would need to check the reference turnover for each year, the amounts already paid and any difference against the new fees.