Italian Gambling Market – A Forerunner in the Liberalisation of European Gambling Markets

A report published by the research group MECN predicts that Italian Gambling market will grow with 64% until 2010. Internet Betting is one of the biggest growth driver !

Accordingly with the new decisions of the European Court of Justice, at the
beginning of 2007 nearly 14.000 new betting licenses (for sports and horse race betting
shops/terminals) were awardedm, including major companies of global gambling:
Ladbrokes, Intralot, William Hill, Betfair, Gala/Eurobet, etc.

Also more than 30 new online/interactive gambling operators obtained a license and will push the market forward to new heights.

The study identifies several reasons why Italy is perceived as so attractive:

• Another phase of liberalisation is expected in the near future – Two-thirds of the experts surveyed expect another phase of liberalisation in the near future that will go even further than the steps planned for 2007.
• Growing relevance of foreign operators – A large majority of the experts believe that by 2010 international operators, such as Ladbrokes and Intralot, will capture a relevant share of the gambling market.
• Growth potential, especially for retail betting and interactive gambling – Overall, Italy’s gambling market is expected to grow to Euro 61 billion in turnover by 2010 (+64 percent). By 2010, the retail betting market is expected to grow to ca. Euro 14 billion, which is about 200 percent its current size (CAGR of 32 percent).
• Another growth driver will be interactive gambling, which is expected to reach ca. Euro 3.7 billion by 2010, a growth of ca. 240 percent over the current level (CAGR of 40 percent).

See the summary of the report.

Buy the entire report – Italian Gambling Market – A Forerunner in the Liberalisation of European Gambling Markets

Czech Betting companies move to Malta

The most important Czech betting companies will move to Malta, after being discriminated from their own national government, that want to pass a law that will make illegal online betting. The Czech online betting market was estimated at 190 million USD in 2006 and is on the rise, but the Czech Ministry of Finance is expected to submit to Parliament later this year a new gambling bill that doesn’t include the legalization of online betting.

Based on the recent Plancanica Decision of the European Court of Justice (presented by us in an earlier post) the two main actors on the market Tipsport and Fortuna have begun looking at ways to establish betting branches abroad so they can penetrate the Czech online market.

According with Czech Business Weekly Jana Studničková, spokeswoman for Czech and Slovak private equity firm Penta Investments, the group that controls Fortuna said :’“We’ve repeatedly failed in our request [to the Ministry of Finance] to receive a license for online betting, so we’re forced to consider other options“

According to Maltese sources, Penta has already submitted a request for an online betting license in Malta, where it could start another online betting company – Fortunawin, that should receive the same treatment as any other European company.

Tipsport is considering moving to Slovakia where online betting is legal and where they have acquired in July 2006 theSlovak Doxx-Stávkové kancelárie betting chain.