Italy makes online gambling license fees 35 times more expensive

The Italian Customs and Monopoly Authority (ADM) has presented the details of the new rules for online gambling licenses. This documentation was sent to the Ministry of Finance after the bill was published in the Italian Official Gazette in April.

License costs X35 

The new rules significantly increase licensing costs for online gambling providers. The costs are now 35 times higher than the €200,000 that had to be paid in 2018. It doesn’t stop there because operators now also have to pay 3 percent of their annual gross gambling revenue after taxes.

The Ministry of Finance justifies the increase in license fees by pointing to the changing market dynamics. This is dominated by a few large providers such as SNAI, Lottomatica, Flutter and Entain.

Stricter control

The new rules will be included in the Italian Decree on the Reorganization of Gambling which traditionally concerns land-based casinos. Before the rules are introduced, the technical details will be submitted to the European Commission for evaluation. This requires a standstill period of three months.

Gambling licensees must ensure that their games and systems are audited by a third-party certification body. The ADM will also be given more powers to audit player funds, which will tighten supervision.

Transition period 

Antonio Giuliani, head of ADM’s online office, outlined the transition process for existing operators: “The authority will set a deadline by which current operators can start offering gambling under the new regime. New operators will be given up to six months to set up their systems to make.”

New rules for bonusses

Last month, new rules for bonus management were introduced in Italy. These changes introduced legislation surrounding the use of bonuses, including terms, payment methods and tax implications. Operators had long requested this to clarify the calculation of the costs of bonus rewards.