Sports betting decline means Italian online revenue dips in July

According to the latest figures, supplied by Ficom Leisure, retail sports betting revenue fell 69.6% month-on-month from June’s €113.2m total – by far the highest of the year to date – to just €34.5m. The online betting sector’s decline was not as precipitous, but revenue of €63.2m still represented a 38.4% decline on the prior month. 

For the online channel, Playtech-owned Snaitech led the market for the first time since April, accounting for 14.3% of sports betting revenue. This set it ahead of May’s market leader Sisal, with a share of 12.9%, and Bet365 on 12.1%. 

Snaitech’s retail estate also saw it top the rankings for in-person betting, with 20.1% market share. However Goldbet followed closely behind, on 19.6%, then Entain’s Eurobet on 15.8%. 

This meant the Playtech-owned operator was Italy’s largest sportsbook operator in July, with a combined market share of 14.3%, setting it ahead of Goldbet on 14.3% and Sisal on 12.8%. 

The sportsbook vertical’s declines contributed to Italy’s total online revenue declining 21.3% to €207.2m in July – though this did represent a 5.5% improvement on the same month in 2020. 

Compared to the prior month, all key verticals were down, though none were as steep as those reported for retail and online wagering, and generally remained ahead of prior year levels. 

Online casino, for example, saw revenue fall 3.9% compared to July, to €128.8m, but this represented a 38.6% year-on-year improvement. Poker did dip however, with tournament revenue declining to €6.1m, and cash games’ contribution falling to €4.5m. 

PokerStars remained the market leader for casino and poker alike, increasing its market share in the casino vertical to 10.3% and totally dominating the poker tournament and cash game markets.

Its closest challenger for casino is Sisal, with a 9.0% share, with that operator also a distant second in poker tournaments, with market share of 10.6%. For cash games, no other operator comes close – Sisal again comes second, but with a share of less than 10%. 

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All data and figures from the regulator are processed by leading European corporate advisory firm Ficom Leisure, a specialist in all segments of the betting and gaming sector.

Ficom Leisure also provides monthly figures on the New Jersey online market in the New Jersey iGaming Dashboard, Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania iGaming Dashboard and Iowa in the Iowa iGaming Dashboard, all of which are available on iGB North America.

It also provides quarterly figures on the Spanish online market in the Spain iGaming Dashboard and the Portuguese market in the Portugal iGaming Dashboard.