When Italy activated its long-awaited online gambling overhaul merely a few weeks ago — in November 2025 — it did so with the precision of a state determined to redesign, and not just regulate, its digital betting economy.
What had been trailed for half a decade suddenly materialised in a single stroke: a market of more than 400 operating domains was compressed into a mere 52 licences, each tied to a single online identity. As the dust settles, Italy’s iGaming market no longer resembles a competitive sprawl of brands, but a concentrated field dominated by heavyweight incumbents.
It has become clear that this reform is a structural reset designed as a move toward transparency, compliance and a regulated, safer market. Policymakers may call it modernisation, but some operators may describe the effect as an extinction-level event.
Dramatic changes to Italy’s iGaming framework
On 13 November, Italy’s customs and monopolies agency, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, ADM, issued 52 licences to 46 operators, replacing the bundle of old concessions and sub-brands that had escalated over the past decade. Under the new rules, each licence corresponds to exactly one domain — a change that alone erased hundreds of secondary brands from the market.
According to iGaming industry veteran Christian Tirabassi, senior partner at Ficom Leisure, “the one domain per licence rule has driven operators to drop brands, rebrand, or merge”. Major firms have responded by streamlining, while weaker actors have simply disappeared.
The price of entry has changed even more dramatically. The former licence fee — around €200,000 — has been replaced with a €7 million charge, alongside multimillion-euro guarantees. For larger groups, the hurdle is significant but surmountable; for smaller ones, it is existential.
Quirino Mancini, a partner at WH Partners, a general practice firm with offices in Malta, Italy, Romania, Poland and Dubai, puts it bluntly: “The new tender has completely reshaped the market. We now have a situation where basically only the big boys are fully equipped to operate in Italy. The bar is very high, and this was done on purpose.”
He adds that the driving force was not the regulator but policymakers at the top: “The government wanted to redesign the local market in accordance with a clear strategic vision encompassing and [making] bigger operators easier to control and regulate,” he says.
The outcome matches that ambition: fewer than 50 licences in total, most to be held by long-standing incumbents, with Stake being the only new face in the pack.
Less competitive vibrancy
Italy’s transition is one of the most abrupt contractions seen in any regulated European gambling market. Tirabassi sees the shift as the start of a new competitive era. “Italy is entering a phase of accelerated consolidation. Over the next 12 to 24 months, the market will likely see increased M&A activity, fewer but larger players and a shift towards higher compliance and marketing standards,” he says.
With fewer competitors and a higher threshold for survival, the remaining firms — typically multi-vertical giants with strong local presence — have gained structural advantage. Scale has become necessary. Many smaller firms, Tirabassi notes, “have exited or are evaluating M&A opportunities as part of a strategic sale to remain viable”.
Some major international brands, including Betway and Unibet, chose not to reapply at all. The combination of steep licensing fees, the continuing advertising blockade and rising compliance costs makes Italy resemble a strategically defensible but expensive fortress.
Consolidation may bring order and quality, but it also reduces consumer choice. As Tirabassi argues: streamlined portfolios and stronger flagships may benefit players through better products, yet the competitive vibrancy suffers.
Who’s left and who’s dominating
Among the licence-holders are several heavyweights of global and domestic gambling. As revealed when ADM received the bids for the new licences: prominent names include Flutter Entertainment – which in Italy controls brands Sisal, Snaitech, Betfair (including Betfair Exchange) – and Sky Bet Italia. Also present are Bet365, Betsson, Eurobet (historically linked to Entain/Evoke), 888 Italia (also under Evoke/888 Sport), LeoVegas (owned by MGM) and IGT.
Flutter Entertainment in particular appears poised to consolidate a dominant share of the Italian online market, because its integrated control of multiple major brands gives it a structural edge under the new one-domain-per-licence rule.
This dominance is almost by design: by pricing out smaller entrants and affiliates, the authorities have created an oligopoly of well-capitalised firms, ones capable of absorbing compliance costs, licence fees and operational burdens.
The advertising paradox
Since 2018, Italy’s iGaming regulation’s so-called Dignity Decree has prevented operators from running gambling ads or sponsorships. The industry had hoped the 2025 tender would open a small window for controlled marketing. It did not. If Italy’s vision is to fortify its regulated market, its insistence on maintaining a near-total advertising ban can seem paradoxical.
Mancini highlights the contradiction: the state is tightening control while denying operators the tools to channel customers into the legal system. And he argues the ban is central to the black market risk.
“What we’ve learned not just in Italy but all across European regulated markets is that excessive regulations indirectly benefit the illegal gambling market. Indeed, over-regulated markets continuously loaded up with multiple compliance requirements of all sorts for the locally licensed operators – especially but not only in terms of advertising restrictions – push players to offshore-based, unlicensed gaming sites,” he laments.
Finding loopholes
As for whether the ban will be lifted, as some industry voices have speculated, Mancini is clear: “There will be no lifting.”
But enforcement is imperfect, he points out, and many have found a loophole. “The telecoms authority, the governmental watchdog notably in charge of enforcing the advertising ban and implementing the relevant operational guidelines, left a number of regulatory loopholes,” he says.
“By simply removing the .it suffix that is attached to the real money gambling offer to replace it with a .news, .sport, .live suffix, as the case may be, they are able to legally promote their brand and be legitimately present in the local market promoting such ancillary services to real-money gambling as odds comparison, sports news and statistics, footage of sporting events, etc.”
This circumvention makes Italy’s advertising environment a cat-and-mouse game: strict in principle, porous in practice. Tirabassi argues that reforming the ban would profoundly reshape the sector: “Overturning the ad and sponsorship ban would be a game-changer. It would particularly benefit new entrants and those with rebranded offerings.”
But he acknowledges it is “a very delicate political topic”.
Compliance, costs and survival of the largest
A major theme of Italy’s reset is governance. The new system requires strengthened identity checks (including mandatory SPID or electronic ID), enhanced anti-money laundering practises, stricter responsible gambling checks and extensive reporting requirements.
Tirabassi notes: “Operators are investing heavily in AML, KYC and responsible gambling measures. The increased compliance burden is a significant difficulty for smaller firms.”
Mancini is even more direct about the compliance overload: “If you go too far — too many compliance layers of all sorts for the licensed operators to tackle including multiple ISO-style certifications and reports — you create burdens that are difficult to manage. You either need a highly specialised in-house compliance team or resort to expensive outsourcing. For small operators this is almost impossible.”
This dynamic reinforces the reform’s tilt toward scale. Italy has effectively declared that operating an online betting business is a matter for large, well-capitalised companies with corporate governance structures built for intense scrutiny.
What’s the future for land-based sector?
The reform also alters the balance between online and land-based gambling. Purely digital operators, squeezed by advertising bans and multi-layered compliance demands, find themselves with little wiggle room. Meanwhile, firms with retail estates enjoy built-in advantages like physical signage, in-store promotion and a customer flow unaffected by digital restrictions.
“Omnichannel is the natural answer in a highly restricted market,” Mancini explains. “Advertising restrictions apply only to online operators. Land-based operators can still use physical signage and cross-sell once the customer is inside the shop.”
He adds that points of sale, historically used permitted marketing tools for player on-boarding, are now tightly regulated in an effort to curb illegal retail betting transactions or potential use of a a shop manager’s own account on an offshore gaming site to place bets on behalf of a player.
The next major policy event will be the long-awaited land-based tender in Italy, expected in 2026 but entangled in endless negotiations between the central government and Italy’s regions and municipalities. This is an effort to harmonise key rules including distance restrictions from sensitive venues like churches, hospitals and schools, as well as the opening hours.
Despite the upheaval, Italy remains one of Europe’s largest online gambling markets by turnover and tax yield — licence revenues bring approximately €364 million ($424 million) to the state. The fundamentals remain intact; it is the architecture that has shifted. Tirabassi forecasts further growth: “The market is growing, with a forecasted GGR of over €5.2 billion ($6 billion) for 2025.”
A league of its own
Opportunities in Italy’s iGaming landscape persist for the right players. Omnichannel operators will push integration, premium brands will dominate and M&A will be fertile ground for well-capitalised entrants. Tirabassi sees space for newcomers if they come with capital and strategy. “M&A opportunities exist for well-capitalised entrants, where strategic partnerships with local experts or tech providers can also unlock value,” he says.
As for the long-term sustainability of the new environment, he argues the diversity of more than 30 active groups helps balance the system: “The new nine-year concession offers the necessary diversity together with the efficiency and investment in player protection and technology.”
The consumer experience, meanwhile, may ultimately improve. “Stricter responsible gaming measures will raise trust and market credibility,” Tirabassi concludes, even if they add friction.
In summary, Italy’s iGaming reform replaces a sprawling ecosystem with a tightly governed oligopoly of powerful incumbents. In Quirino Mancini’s words: “Fewer operators, bigger operators, easier to control, regulate and vet. That’s where we stand.”
Where Italy goes next — particularly on advertising, black market enforcement and the 2026 land-based tender — will determine whether this restructuring becomes a platform for innovation or a long-term entrenchment of power. One thing is certain: Italy remains Europe’s online gaming heavyweight. And it is fighting in a different league now.
Italy’s sweeping iGaming reform is coming into focus and larger incumbents stand to gain the most as small players are pushed out.