Strong Growth in Italy's iGaming Market

January was a slow month for the iGaming industry. Still, Italy managed to remain strong with only a slight dip in gaming revenue. This is good news for Italian casinos and online gamblers alike despite some seasonal slowdown.

It's been a challenging period for Italy, with both legal and black-market gambling activity on the rise. But, surprisingly enough, despite these reports of increased illegal betting houses across the country, there has still been some impressive iGaming market performance over the past 12 months. January saw the highest revenue for this segment in eight months, with total turnover reaching €324 M ($358 M).

No Sign of Slowing Down

The Italian gaming market is on a positive trajectory, with January's gross gaming revenue (GGR) giving them most of their success. With total revenue from online casinos reaching €171 M ($188.8 M), this is up 5% over last year.

December's iGaming revenue of €165 M ($182 M) beat last year's record by almost double. This shows that infusing iGaming into Italy's gaming market is a significant development.

Italy's iGaming market may have seen a 3.3% drop in revenue from January 2021, but online casinos produced some excellent numbers during the first month of this year. It looks like their success may have helped keep things afloat for all other forms of gambling.

The Diminishing Appeal of Poker

Many players enjoy playing poker on the country's top site, but a recent downturn has seen its value decline. With online tournament revenue at €11.4 M ($12.6 M) in January and cash game earnings of €7.5 M ($8.28 M), it's a lot less than a year ago.

Online poker has been a favorite pastime for many people during the COVID-19 pandemic. But as soon as it became less dangerous to go out and about, players turned their attention toward land-based casino games.

The global poker market is dominated by three companies, with PokerStars holding almost 10% of the space. Snaitech (powered by Playtech) comes at 8.8%, closely followed by Sisal, which currently has 7.9%. With Flutter Entertainment planning to acquire Sisal to increase its share within this industry, it will be interesting to see how that turns out.

As of January 2022, PokerStars controlled 42.74% of cash games and just over half of the online tournaments.

The online bingo industry is growing at a rapid pace. It had a value of €6.1 M ($6.7 M) in January and could soon be worth a lot more if the number of land-based halls is reduced.

A Mixed Picture Emerges from Sports Betting

The Italian sports betting market has continued to grow since December last year. January's global growth rate (both retail and online) was €211 M ($233 M). However, this is 46.9% less than what it was in the earlier part of 2021.

The growth of online sports betting is impressive, considering it reached €128.8 M ($142.3 M) in GGR in January. Though it's 10.3% less than last year's revenue of €143.6 M ($158.6 M).

One company that has been making waves in this space recently is Snai. Thanks to their successful bid on an international license, they were able to take control of 13.7%. The next highest operators came from Sisal with 13.3%, followed closely behind by Eurobet, PlanetWin365, and Bet365 each at 10%.

With more and more Italians turning to iGaming, it is clear that the industry is here to stay.