– 18 years is the minimum gambling age and a valid ID is required for verification.
– Most Italian casinos require a dress code but each casino defines its own code.
– The legalization of online gambling in Italy started with the European Commission when the institution questioned Italy for the restrictions on online gambling in 2003. In 2006, the first approach occurred but the first effective decree came through in 2007. In 2010, another decree was passed and allows foreign licensed gambling websites to offer their respective services to people in Italy.
– Slot machines are Italians’ favorite as there are over 380,000 slot machines throughout the regions of Italy. Surprisingly, even pharmacies have slot machines.
– Online poker games are only allowed between Italians or residents of Italy.
– Online gambling generates 10 percent of the total revenues. In the United Kingdom, the percentage is double.
– Illegal gambling and gambling addiction are serious problems in Italy.
– Pertaining illegal gambling, more than 4,500 gambling websites have been blacklisted by the ADM (then AAMS) and Italian ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are required to restrict them. (At the same time, approximately 50 websites are added to the whitelist per month). Also, hundreds of slot parlors are run by the Italian Mafia and, according to the Anti-Mafia Commission, the Italian Mafia is profiting even more than the Italian government.
– Pertaining gambling addiction, the government is more than concerned and has proposed abolishing the ever-growing slot machines in the country. Libera reported that almost one million Italians are addicted to at least one form of gambling. Italy is only behind Australia and Singapore as the country with the highest gambling spending per capita.
– There is a high rate of crime in Italy, which can be linked to addicted gamblers stealing and robbing to pay off their gambling debts. Addicted gamblers are mostly poor retirees and unemployed youths.
– Seeing the high rate of illegal gambling, the political party M5S (5-Star-Movement) proposed that land-based and online gambling should be completely abolished in Italy. Reasons were that gambling is an impeccable disguise for organized crimes and a general cause of diverse social problems.
– The founder of Not So Slot, a social psychologist named Simone Feder, complained that 800,000 out of 15 million Italian gamblers are addicted to gambling; stating the fact that these addicts are just hopeful and believe they can get off their low-living by playing slot machines with their scanty wages or money criminally gathered if there are no wages at all.
– SERT is one of the many groups with a purpose to eradicate gambling addiction in Italy.
– One initiative against gambling is the BetOnMath, a school program where three qualified mathematicians break down the idea of gambling and the gambling industry so school students can understand and, therefore, set the students against gambling. More than 250 math teachers have already signed up for the program.
– Contrary to Italy’s 2 percent share of the world’s population, the Italian gambling industry accounts for more than 20 percent of the world’s entire gambling market.
– Despite Vincendo Mini Casino being a mini casino, there are 60 gaming machines in its Meran branch and 100 in its Milan branch.
– The seven Italian hippodromes are Ippodromo Martini Corridonia in Corridonia, Ippodromo del Casalone in Grosseto, Ippodromo di Maia in Merano, Ippodromo Romanengo in Novi Ligure, Ippodromo Di San Rossore in Pisa, Tor di Valle Harness Raceway in Rome, and Vinovo Ippodromi Di Torino in Vinovo – Torino.
– Italian SuperEnalotto was established in 1997. The operator, Sisal, was founded in 1946. In 2015, the company reported a turnover of a whopping sum of €15.1 billion.
– On October 30th, 2010, a lottery player won a mouth-watering jackpot of €177.7 million in Italy. Till today, this is the highest single-ticket jackpot in the history of SuperEnalotto.
– The Italian government does not support the use of Bitcoin but partially subject the use of electronic currency to banks and financial institutions. Therefore, Bitcoin gambling is technically legal in Italy considering the fact that decentralized financial institutions (and not gambling websites) handle Bitcoin transactions.
– In Italy, only companies can apply for gambling (or gaming) licenses – individuals cannot. And, the company must have a gambling license in a European country prior to an application, a financial guarantee of €1.5 million or more, and an infrastructure suitable for offering at least a legal game.
– Italy is one of the few European Union members who has never been pressured by the EU itself to loosen its gambling laws.
– According to Italian law, the servers of a gambling service must be within the territory of a European Economic Area member.
– Only gambling services with an Italian online gaming license can offer gaming with cash prizes.
– The legal definition of land-based gambling and other gambling-related stipulations are outlined in the 1930s Criminal Code, sections 718 through 723. Online gambling, on the other hand, is outlined in the 2011 ADM Decree, section 1.3(p).
– Legally, gambling is covered by two pieces of legislation: primary (the Civil Code and Criminal Code) and secondary (the regulations issued by Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli).
– The tax rates are 20 percent for fixed-odds betting, 22 percent for online games, 18 percent for land-based games, 20 for skill games, 19 percent for land-based sports betting, and 23 percent for online sports betting. These percentages are of the gross revenues returned to the player as winnings. Poker, both online and land-based, is taxed at just 3 percent.
– The gambling websites available to Italians, residents of Italy and visitors are provided in both Italian and English languages, and use both EUR and USD. Presently, there are more than 185 licensed gambling websites.
– On May 30th, 2013, a Chinese player won approximately €350,000 in Milan playing one-armed bandit. The prize was paid by the largest arcade operator in Central and Eastern Europe, Olympic Entertainment Group.
– According to reports, an average Italian gambler spends €1,000 or more per year. This particular rate is higher than most countries’. Players in Lombardy, one of Italy’s regions, spend more than the nation’s average for they spend €3,000.
– The gambling revenues in Italy grow annually. For one, revenues went up 24 percent in 2014 when compared to the gross revenues in 2013. Second, revenues went up 21 percent from 2015 to 2016. Concurrently, Italy’s gambling industry is worth €80 billion per year as of 2017 and about 10 percent is granted to the national budget.
– In 2006, the Italian government penalized Stanleybet, a British bookmaker, for operating gambling activities without an Italian license using its service Placanica and imposed a number of punishments on the company. The company dragged the government to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and, in 2007, a final judgement was passed. The judgement found Stanleybet not guilty and reinforced the fact that any gambling operator licensed in an EU country can operate freely in the territory of another EU country.
– In 2013, Malta restricted Italian players from playing on Malta-licensed gambling websites and Italian operators from operating in Malta. Accordingly, the CJEU passed a ruling which stated that this was a violation against EU laws for – as stated earlier – any gambling operator licensed in an EU country can operate freely in the territory of another EU country.
– In actual fact, gambling in Italy is older than the Vatican.
– Italians can also play lotteries of other EU countries such as El Gordo of Spain.
– Casinò di Venezia: Ca’ Noghera is often called Italy’s first American-style casino.
– Casinò di Venezia: Ca’ Vendramin Calergi have a restaurant named after Wilhelm Richard Wagner, German composer – famously known for his unique operas (or music dramas) – who once lived in Venice.
– Apart from December 24th and 25th, the two Casinò di Venezia open every day of the year.
– Casino Municipale di Campione d’Italia is the largest casino in the whole continent of Europe. It opened as far back as 1917, closed in 1919, then reopened in 1933.
– On slot machines, the minimum bet is between €0.01 and €10.00 while the maximum is typically €500 a spin.