Maggi: “The reform of the sector is what we all look forward to most. We appreciate the proxy and with it the reform of the online gaming industry that it will bring in a few months”
“The reform of the sector is what is most awaited by all of us. We appreciate the delegation and with it the reform of the online gaming sector that will lead to new concessions in a few months. We look forward to the physical gaming reform which is more complicated and touches so many interests. So many problems need to be resolved, with issues that have been going on for years. The betting concessions, for example, have been expired for years. We want the new concessions so that we can plan investments in the medium term and not go day by day.
Within retail reform is the fundamental issue of distances from sensitive locations, an issue that affects us dealers and the legislature. Distances as elaborated today prevent competition. The recent CJUE decision on bingo puts the Italian state on notice from continuing with the system of extensions. On the one hand we support the institutions by offering our experience and on the other hand we believe we have put in place actions that are not yet fully understood to protect the player and put the focus on prevention rather than cure.”
John Emilio Maggi stated this while participating in the second edition of IGE 2025.
PressGames
The Italian regulated gambling market remains one of the largest in Europe, generating €21.6 billion in GGR in 2025 and €11.5 billion in tax revenue. However, the land-based sector has operated for years under repeated extensions, fragmented local regulations, and expired or postponed concessions.
AGIC – Associazione Gioco e Intrattenimento in Concessione, which represents the market’s leading operators – highlighted, in a document presented today in Rome, the critical issues that could arise if the reform is not implemented.
Following an initial phase in which the sector was centrally managed by AAMS, now ADM, Regions and Municipalities have introduced their own regulations in recent years, mainly on public health grounds, restricting the location and opening hours of gaming outlets. This overlap of local rules has created an inconsistent regulatory system which, as also noted by the Council of State, hinders both the planning of the gaming network and the launch of tenders for retail concessions.
AGIC, the association bringing together the main concession operators in the public gaming sector, expresses strong concern over the data contained in the 2026 Report to Parliament on addiction, which documents an increase in minors’ involvement in gambling — a phenomenon that is by definition illegal, given the ban on access for minors — and a broader spread of behavioural addictions, from digital addiction to online and land-based gambling.
The numbers are clear: according to the Report, in 2025, 60% of students gambled at least once in the previous year, with the share of “at-risk” and “problematic” profiles increasing compared with 2024. These are figures that AGIC has no intention of downplaying: they confirm that the problem exists, affects increasingly younger age groups, and requires concrete responses.
Precisely for this reason, the Association reiterates a distinction that the Report itself effectively confirms: underage gambling is, by definition, a phenomenon that takes place outside the legal perimeter, often through channels lacking effective age and identity controls.
