The Italian Government has finalised its Budget Reform by the 29 August deadline. The process resulted in 29 measures, but no agreement was reached on the decree to reorganise land-based gaming.
Italy’s 2025 Budget Law extended the existing concessions for bingo, betting and AWP and VLT networks until the end of 2026. As a new tender cannot be launched, further extensions of the existing concessions will be required once again. At present, it remains unclear which legal instrument the Government will use to secure these extensions.
The uncertain future of the new concession tenders is a major issue for the sector, these cannot be issued until the land-based regulatory reshuffle is complete. The reorganisation was intended to establish regulatory principles for new licences covering AWPs, VLTs, betting shops and bingo halls.
Repeated extensions of existing licences have allowed the market to continue operating yet have also created uncertainty for operators and limited incentives for long-term investment.
At the same time, operators continue to face fragmented regional and municipal rules, mainly about distance requirements and operating hours. The reorganisation was supposed to harmonise these rules.
As this process has already been ongoing for a couple of years, several industry trade associations have expressed their disappointment.
Among them was the Italian Tobacconists Federation (FIT), which stated: "We cannot envision a future for our betting shops without serious regulatory reform aimed at safeguarding the full range of land-based gaming. One way or another, the rules that currently (poorly) govern our segment need to be changed and we must do so as soon as possible."
In late July, the office of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni rejected the reorganisation proposals
