Italy’s cabinet is due to consider 2027 budget with gaming measures unresolved

Italy's 2027 budget law is due to go before the Council of Ministers on 27 October, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini confirmed. The government is still working through the final measures and their financial cover, and the tax and regulatory measures the gaming sector expects have not been officially defined.

The budget is put at about €23.5bn overall, before any flexibility margins still under discussion with Brussels. A further majority meeting may be held on Monday 26 October, the day before the Council of Ministers, to settle the remaining aspects of the measure.

For public gaming, the reference remains the Documento programmatico di Bilancio, which sets out additional revenue of about €700m in 2027, the same amount in 2028 and about €500m in 2029. That is an additional contribution to public finances estimated at about €1.9bn over the three years.

Among the options reported in recent weeks are changes to the tax on online gambling, changes to the taxation of winnings and measures on the concession system. Attention also covers concessions for AWP and VLT machines, betting and bingo, where the deadlines set for 31 December 2026 are at issue. One solution under consideration is onerous extensions, which would let the state raise further resources by prolonging concession titles. The amounts that might be requested from operators and the way the measures would apply have not been made official.

The budget discussion comes as the sector awaits a reorganisation of land-based gambling and as changes already begun in the online segment under the new concession system continue. Any increase in the levy or further charges on companies would fall on a market already affected by regulatory and economic change. Revenue data for the first eight months of 2026 show gaming receipts about €200m lower than in the same period a year earlier.