Higher Tax on Online Sports Betting in Italy

The Ministry of Finance and the national chamber of commerce have agreed to many new framework for the gambling market, imposing 22% tax on online sports betting in Italy.

The tax for online bingo, casino and poker providers was set at 20%. However, online sports betting services will have to pay 22% tax duty of the net receipts. Italy gambling news say that 2016 will see a gambling revolution in the country. Gambling authorities expect €15 million in tax revenues between 2016 and 2018. Previously, the tax was 2-5% on the betting turnover.

The change is welcome by providers of online sports betting in Italy, however it’s not exactly what they expected.

Introduced in 2010, Italy’s framework for online gambling was highly criticized for being unfair to online sports betting providers. Last week, Italy’s Budget Committee has approved a number of new amendments to the Stability Law. Gambling law specialists say that the 22% tax rate is still too high. If the changes are accepted by Chamber of Deputies the new amendments will come into force on January 1, 2016.