Italy forecasts €700m gambling tax revenue in 2027 budget

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has signed off the country's Budget Law, locking in her Brothers of Italy government's fiscal plans ahead of the 2027 general election.

The Council of Ministers approved the draft budget this week, after it was first presented to the Council and the European Commission by Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti on 15 October, according to SBC News.

Rome is counting on the gambling, finance and energy sectors to help fund spending commitments and protect the economy against expected global headwinds.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance now expects gambling taxes to generate €700m in state revenue across 2026 and 2027, SBC News reported. Earlier projections had ranged as high as €1bn or as low as €400m to €500m.

That gambling revenue sits within a wider package of tax cuts and spending worth €26bn in 2027 and €27bn in 2028, funded in part by the finance and energy industries alongside gambling.

SBC News noted the figure will not surprise operators, since Meloni had already flagged gambling taxation as an option to support state spending.

The Budget Law does not include a tender for Gratta e Vinci, Italy's scratch card concession, which remains under separate consideration. Ministers are reportedly also weighing a paid extension to the existing concession, which runs out in September 2028.

The announcement lands as Italy's online gambling market approaches the first anniversary of a new licensing regime introduced in November 2025, which carries an annual fee of €7m per licence.

That framework ended the practice of operating multiple brands under a single licence, requiring a separate licence for each brand. Flutter Entertainment, for instance, needs individual licences for Sisal, Snai, PokerStars and tombola in Italy, while its Betfair brand is being wound down in the country.

Italy's land-based gambling sector remains in regulatory limbo. Talks between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Conference of Regional Councils over a new federal framework for retail venues across Italy's 20 regions and 110 municipal councils broke down after two years of negotiation.

Meloni ordered the ministry to end those discussions in August, and the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli was subsequently told to grant a further extension to land-based gambling concessions, pushing their expiry to the end of 2028.

Despite the unresolved retail question, Italy's betting market remains one of the five largest in Europe, SBC News reported.

The budget underlines a trend SBC News highlighted across differing political administrations: governments of varying ideological stripes are turning to gambling taxation as a reliable revenue stream.

Italy's budget was finalised shortly after the UK's own, despite the two governments sitting at opposite ends of the political spectrum, with Meloni's right-wing populist Brothers of Italy contrasting with the social democratic Labour government led by PM Andy Burnham.

The UK is pursuing a similar, if smaller-scale, strategy. Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey has raised the tax on retail gaming machines from 20% to 25%, using the proceeds to fund a cut to business rates for hospitality and leisure venues as part of a broader push to support Britain's high streets.