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Gaming: the challenge against the illegal market

ROME – Yesterday morning, at the Hotel Nazionale in Piazza Montecitorio, the event “Legal Market and Public Gaming: The Role of the Industry” was held, organized by AGIC – Confindustria (the Association for Licensed Gaming and Entertainment). During the event, the results of a study conducted by Luiss Business School were presented, which examined gambling habits and preferences in Italy, with a particular focus on the reasons that lead consumers to turn to illegal channels.

LEGALITY. While regulated gambling provides a significant contribution to public finances (in 2024 net expenditure reached €21 billion and tax revenues exceeded €11 billion), illegal gambling, on the other hand, deprives the State and licensed operators of substantial resources. Needless to say, this represents a serious threat both to consumer protection and to the overall balance of the market: it is estimated that the illegal sector generates between €20 and €25 billion in wagers each year (equivalent to €3 billion in net expenditure and, consequently, €2 billion in lost tax revenues).

INFORMATION. One of the most striking findings of this research is that many of the people who turn to illegal channels do so entirely unknowingly, highlighting the difficulty in distinguishing between the different platforms. For this reason, as emphasized by the various speakers who took the stage yesterday, an urgent need emerged to define effective counter-strategies based not only on monitoring and enforcement, but also on information and awareness-raising, in order to strengthen the legal gambling sector to the detriment of the illegal one.

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RASSEGNA STAMPA

Addictions: AGIC, data from the Report to Parliament confirm the urgency of effective rules. The underground market grows where there is no legal barrier.

25 June 2026

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.

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Gambling: the industry’s fight against the illegal market

2 October 2025

The regulated gambling industry plays a key role not only from an economic perspective but also for its social and regulatory implications, as it represents a significant component of the national economy: in 2024, net expenditure reached €21 billion, while tax revenues exceeded €11 billion.

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