Italy 2016: online casino and sports betting good, poker bad

Bet365 continues to hold a commanding lead on Italy’s online sports betting market, which welcomed a new chart entrant in December.

Figures compiled by Italian gaming news agency Agimeg.it show the market generated online sports betting turnover of €391.8m in December. Combined online and land-based sports betting turnover was €770m, bringing 2016’s total sum wagered to nearly €7.5b, up 35% from 2015’s total. Land-based betting improved nearly 26% to €3.4b, while online betting surged 46% to over €4b.

As usual, Bet365 ruled December’s online betting turnover chart with €128m, representing 32.7% of the total spend. Gala Coral’s Eurobet brand was a distant second with €37m (9.5%), followed by Sisal (€32.3m, 8.2%), Snai-Cogetech (€29.8m, 7.6%) and Lottomatica (€22.7m, +5.8%).

Recent market entrant Sky Betting & Gaming entered the bottom of the charts with €600k in sports betting revenue, despite the fact that the company has only just begun raising awareness of its Skybet.it site. This week saw Skybet launch a stylish new TV campaign (viewable here) promoting its new iPhone app around the tagline ‘Punta al meglio.’