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The gambling industry made a strong recovery in 2022 and 2023 after the pandemic. Lombardy is the top region for spending in the gambling sector with 3.1 billion euros registered in 2022


Rimini, 6 March 2024 - In 2022, Italians´ gambling expenditures - counting the amount played minus the winnings - totalled 136 billion euros, with an increase of 31.56% compared to 2021: the actual expenditure stood at 22 billion, highlighting that a considerable part of the amounts gambled returns in the form of winnings, with Treasury coffers taking in over 11 billion euros.
In particular, the reopening of gaming venues increased the share of in person gambling by 43.17%.

The preliminary data for 2023 indicate a growth in the gaming market with cash winnings (which the Customs and Monopolies Authority estimates at roughly 10%-12%), directly involving around 150,000 people, with an indirect impact on 250,000 individuals and with the betting amount expected to be around 150 billion.

Gambling machines . in other words, slot machines and video lotteries - have reported a dramatic resurgence: the 2022 data show an 85% increase in bets compared to 2021, even if the 34 billion collected represent a figure still far from pre-Covid levels (over 46 billion recorded in 2019).
As far as in person gambling is concerned, 2022 witnessed a slight decline in instant lotteries and the Lotto. On the other hand, bingo and especially sports-based games are on the rise.

In 2022, online gambling spending reached 73 billion euros (+9% compared to 2021): card games and fixed-odds games were the greatest pullers, representing over 70% of online spending.

The gambling market in Italy: geography and numbers

The number one region for gambling spending in 2022 is Lombardy with a figure of 3.1 billion euros - compared to 2.3 billion in 2021 - exceeding Campania at 1.8 billion (1.2 in 2021) and Lazio at 1.6 (over 400 million more in one year).
Six other regions have exceeded one billion in annual spending: Emilia-Romagna (1.267 billion), Veneto (1.262 billion), Sicily (1.14), Puglia (1.09), Piedmont (1.03 billion) and Tuscany (1.009 billion).

The gambling offer in Italy includes is vast and varied: Lotto, Enalotto and lotteries, sports and horse racing betting. Then there is the automatic gaming sector and the online gaming industry, which is progressively gaining ground.
Specifically, Lotto has a concessionaire and 34,299 authorized retailers throughout Italy. The situation is similar for totalizator games and instant bets (scratch cards) which each have a concessionaire (often one and the same), with more than 33,700 authorized retailers for the former and 53,800 for the latter.
The sports and horse racing betting sector is much smaller, with 214 authorized retailers and just over 9 thousand betting shops. While there are 96 online games concessionaires.

Lastly, the entertainment machines industry is rather diverse: roughly 93,436 offering non-cash prizes (crane/claw machines, etc.).
The AWPs (amusement with prizes) with cash prizes have 11 authorized retailers, 5,000 management companies, 52 thousand operators and employ 150 thousand people: there are 255,000 machines throughout Italy.
Video lotteries with cash prizes (VLT) also have 11 concessionaires and are played in 4,600 public gaming rooms all over Italy.

Source . Customs and Monopolies Authority


ABOUT ENADA 2024
Date: 12-14 March 2024; organizer: Italian Exhibition Group S.p.A., in collaboration with SAPAR; edition: 36th; recurrence: annual; info: https://www.enada.it/

ABOUT RAS 2024
Date: 12-14 March 2024; organizer: Italian Exhibition Group S.p.A., in collaboration with SAPAR; edition: 6th; recurrence: annual; info: https://www.riminiamusement.it/

PRESS CONTACT ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP
head of media relation & corporate communication: Elisabetta Vitali; press office manager: Marco Forcellini;
international press office coordinator: Silvia Giorgi; press office specialist: Luca Paganin, Mirko Malgieri media@iegexpo.it


This press release contains forecast elements and estimates that reflect the management´s current opinions (´forward-looking statements´), particularly regarding future management performance, realization of investments, cash flow trends and the evolution of the financial structure. For their very nature, forward-looking statements have a component of risk and uncertainty, as they depend on the occurrence of future events. The effective results may differ (even significantly) from those announced, due to numerous factors, including, only by way of example: food service market and tourist flow trends in Italy, gold and jewellery market trends, green economy market trends; the evolution of raw material prices; general macroeconomic conditions; geopolitical factors and evolutions in the legislative framework. Moreover, the information contained in this release, does not claim to be complete, and has not been verified by independent third parties. Forecasts, estimates and objectives contained herein are based on the information available to the Company as at the date of this release.