Scommesse, cresce la confusione tra legale e illegale
15% of players are unaware they are using non-authorized operators: another sign of the ineffectiveness of the Dignity Decree.
by Elisabetta Esposito – Roma
Time passes, but confusion in the betting market remains. This is the finding of a study conducted by Luiss Business School, presented yesterday in Rome at the event “Legal Market and Public Gaming: The Role of the Industry,” organized by Agic – Confindustria (the Association for Licensed Gaming and Entertainment). The data, presented by Professor Alberto Franco Pozzolo, paint a rather discouraging picture of Italians’ awareness regarding the platforms on which they gamble.
The report shows that 14.7% of players access illegal channels without knowing it (both online and offline), demonstrating the difficulty of navigating a complex market where the transparency needed to distinguish between licensed and unlicensed operators is lacking. This dynamic is particularly dangerous for vulnerable players (over one third of players aged 18 to 34 choose illegal operators), who have a lower ability—or perhaps a lower willingness—to understand where it is appropriate to place their bets.
Moreover, so-called “vulnerable” players, i.e. those at higher risk of addiction, operate predominantly in the illegal market: over 26% report having gambled through unlicensed operators, a share more than three times higher than that recorded among other players.
The Regulation
These elements once again highlight the ineffectiveness of a measure such as the “Dignity Decree,” which since 2018 has banned all forms of direct and indirect advertising related to gambling and betting, with the aim of combating gambling addiction. The effect, as these latest data also demonstrate, has been an increase in confusion between legal and illegal operators, with a corresponding growth of the unauthorized market, which today amounts to €25 billion. This has led to significant losses not only for the State, but also for football clubs, which have had to forgo sponsorships from licensed operators, while competing with foreign leagues that can still count on substantial betting-related revenues.
It is estimated that between the 2019–2020 and 2024–2025 seasons, Serie A lost around €250 million in missed revenues from betting sector sponsors. This issue, along with the proposal to recognize a kind of copyright fee (around 1%) for those who organize the sporting events on which bets are placed, represents one of the measures that the Italian Football Federation and clubs have long been requesting from the government to support the sector’s sustainability. The Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, has repeatedly expressed his willingness to revise a regulation that has not achieved its intended goals, but so far no green light has been given. The idea is to initiate a parliamentary debate that is less ideological and more pragmatic, focused on combating illegality and gambling addiction.
RASSEGNA STAMPA
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Yesterday morning, at the Hotel Nazionale in Piazza Montecitorio, the event “Legal Market and Public Gaming: The Role of the Industry”
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