SAPAR warns proposed PREU rise could threaten Italian AWP and VLT operators

SAPAR has said it is concerned about reports that Italy's 2027 budget law could raise the single tax on gaming machines, the PREU, by one percentage point on AWP and VLT devices. The association's president, Sergio D'Angelo, said the reported measure would have a severe effect on operators, employment and the authorised network. The proposal is reported, not confirmed, and SAPAR is asking the government and the institutions responsible to hear all parts of the supply chain before any final decision on the increase.

D'Angelo said a single percentage point may look small but must be measured against an operator's actual margins. He said the effect would not stop at a budget line: it could lead to forgoing investment, reducing the number of machines managed and, in the hardest cases, closing a business. He added that many of these businesses are already under pressure and that adding a new tax burden without addressing the sector's structural problems risks pushing them beyond their limit.

SAPAR said the sector is still waiting for an organic reorganisation of land-based gaming, and that the absence of a stable framework makes investment decisions and product renewal harder. D'Angelo said the association has long proposed working on renewed AWP machines with a 70% payout, a maximum win of €200, more effective prevention messages and a rebalancing of the PREU, to be examined as a whole with technical checks on economic effects and player protections. He said the budget law should be the occasion to start that discussion rather than to add further burden to a sector still awaiting reorganisation.

D'Angelo said the state has the right and duty to plan its revenue but must ask whether an additional levy is sustainable over time and what effect it would have on a network that already struggles to plan its future. He said that if smaller businesses leave the market and the presence of legal supply shrinks, employment, territorial coverage and the ability to maintain controlled collection would suffer, and that expected revenue should be examined in light of those consequences. SAPAR said it is available to present its assessments and contribute to an analysis of the effects of the various options on revenue, businesses, work and the local network.

D'Angelo also argued that amusement machines differ from other gaming products because the entertainment component prevails over the win, whereas players of SuperEnalotto, Lotto or betting play to win rather than to have fun. He concluded that defending operators and small and medium-sized businesses means defending an essential part of regulated public gaming, and asked that their resilience become a concrete criterion in the budget choices.