Italy’s government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is actively exploring ways to extract additional revenue from the country’s regulated gambling sector for its 2027 budget.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance is examining provisional measures that could generate between €400 million and €500 million from Italy’s gambling industry.
These proposals have not yet been formally included in the draft Budget Law and remain subject to significant change before any decisions are finalised.
The largest share of this potential revenue would come from a three-year extension of Italy’s retail gambling concessions, which are currently due to expire at the end of 2026.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance is considering temporarily extending land-based concessions through to the end of 2029, buying the government valuable additional time.
This extension would allow Italy to keep collecting licensing fees while pressing ahead with the long-delayed reorganisation of its retail gambling network.
The Budget Law could also establish the legal and commercial framework for Italy’s next scratch-card concession, a highly lucrative segment of the market.
That concession is currently operated by Brightstar Lottery under a licence set to expire on 30 September 2028, making a new tender an urgent priority for the government.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance is reportedly considering a starting price of approximately €1 billion for the scratch-card tender, which is expected to retain Italy’s single-concessionaire model.
The government has drawn confidence from the success of the recent Lotto concession process, which generated more than €2.2 billion in upfront state revenue.
Scratch cards represent a similarly valuable asset, with the concessionaire’s 6% premium on approximately €8 billion in annual sales generating close to €500 million per year.
Despite the scale of the opportunity, the tender is unlikely to deliver an immediate boost to the 2027 budget given the time required to prepare and formally award the concession.
The Treasury is not expected to collect the first two instalments from a new scratch-card deal before 2028, meaning its fiscal impact will be felt in later budget cycles rather than immediately.
