Italian gambling regulator confirms new rules for bonuses and odds errors

The ADM has confirmed that the rules will come into force tomorrow.

Italy.- The Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, ADM, which regulates gambling in the country, has confirmed the implementation of new rules for bonus management from tomorrow (June 1). The changes will see the introduction of new legislative criteria on the use of bonuses, terms and conditions, payment methods and how bonuses count for tax purposes.

Operators have been asking for changes since the launch of the regulated market in 2006 due to a lack of clarity over the methodology to calculate the cost of bonus rewards. Tax calculations will now use both the bonus applied and any stake placed by the player to compute the amounts wagered and winnings paid out.

Meanwhile, the ADM is also introducing a set process to respond to palpable errors to allow systematic corrections without the need for legal action. Bookmakers had called for the change due to disputes with customers.

Bookmakers will now be able to submit a request for a correction of a palpable error via a regulated application system. They will need to provide details of the challenged odds. If the request is approved, the odds will be recalculated according to the market average, measured using the national tote as a guide.

Italian gambling reforms

Last month, the Italian government published the new framework for Italian online gambling licences in the parliamentary gazette. New nine-year online gambling concessions will be granted by the end of the year with licence fees of €7m a piece.

The licence fee is 35 times that of the €200,000 fee introduced in 2018, and operators will also pay 3 per cent of annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) after taxes. The Ministry of Finance argued that the hike was justified because market dynamics have changed due to the domination of a limited number of large operators, specifically SNAI, Lottomatica (which is acquiring SKS365), Flutter and Entain.