Versione Italiana

Official language: Italian
Population: 59,829,710
Currency: Euro (EUR)

Current Exchange Rate
1 GBP = EUR
1 USD = EUR

Quick links
Online gambling sites in Italy
Online casinos in Italy
Online poker sites in Italy
Online sportsbooks in Italy
Online bingo in Italy
Mobile casinos in Italy
Italy gambling news

Gambling in Italy
Gambling is legal throughout Italy, and has been for a very long time. Through much of the 1900s, however, most of the population of Italy frowned upon gambling as a negative pastime. This is possibly due to strong associations between gambling and the mafia, who have been tied to illegal gambling clubs and events in the past. This is all changing, and the last few decades have seen an upward spike in the popularity of gambling in Italy.

Today, gambling is a huge industry in Italy. In 2007 alone, Italians wagered more than 42 billion euros, an amount equal to almost 2% of the GDP. Interestingly there are only a handful of casinos in the country. Instead, most wagers are on sports or the national lottery. Casino gaming is growing in popularity, however, and there is more demand today than ever before.

Online Gambling in Italy
Online gambling in Italy is also legal. There was a time when the government in Italy tried to control and suppress internet gambling. They made it illegal in Italy, and tried to block sites from other countries. When that failed, the Italian government tried to run their own online gambling sites. Finally, they gave in, and legalized gambling. The Decree on Liberation, article 38, passed 1 January 2007 makes all gambling online legal in Italy.

Italy even handed out thousands of permits for companies to open internet gambling sites in Italy. Some of these were grabbed by foreign online gambling sites like Ladbrokes and William Hill, but many were purchased by local companies, so there are plenty of Italian online gambling websites available today. The government in Italy still tries to block websites from other countries, but their efforts are hit-and-miss. Anyhow, the EU opposes these blocks, and are working hard to stop them, so that Italians can freely use foreign internet gambing sites too.