Online gaming exceeds 7% of global market in Italy: players shift has begun, multi-channel is fundamental.
Market value of regulated online games with cash prizes in 2017 amounted to €1.38 billion, increasing of 34 percent compared to 2016, with an incidence of 7.2 percent compared to the total value of gaming sector (online and offline). However, also the tools to protect players in the online market increase: among the main regulatory developments of 2018, the single
Register of self-exclusions (Rua) is underway by Agenzia dogane e monopoli (or AdM, the Italian gaming regulator), an initiative that will allow players requiring self-exclusion to be automatically excluded from all gaming websites. Actually, players will no longer be allowed to open or use gaming accounts with other operators and it will be made available also in advance.
Self-exclusion will occur following a request to the concessionaires or even officially to Adm. This is what emerged from the
Politecnico di Milano's Osservatorio gioco online, promoted together with the Adm and Sogei, technological partner of the Ministry of Economy and Monopolies in gaming sector.
Market growth is mainly due to the recovery of irregular gaming flows, returned into the legal circuit and transferred over time under the control of the agenzia dogane e Monopoli, both through the entry of international players in the .it circuit and through the migration of Italian players who previously practiced in a transversal way of digitizing purchasing behavior of Italians with a constant increase of multi-channel initiatives.
The principles on which Italy and the Agenzia dogane e monopoli have built the framework of Social Sustainability are three: fight against irregular gaming, responsible gaming (consumer protection from frauds and problem gaming), prevention of underage gaming. For each of these principles, measures have been adopted to build a responsible gaming system, to which all licenced operators agree without derogations.
FIGHT AGAINST IRREGULAR GAMING – Fight against unlicensed websites occurs not only through the repressive activity coordinated by law enforcement agencies against illegal operators to restrict access to players, blocking access to irregular .com websites, but also through a regulatory framework that makes for international operators attractive to participate in the concession system and unfavourable to remain in the irregularity.
PROTECTION FROM FRAUDS - All the initiatives for consumer protection are based on the centralized Register office of gaming Accounts (ACG), a complex Big Data system managed by Sogei, recording all transactions on Italian gaming websites, a unique resource in the world of online gaming. All players must set game limits on the monthly value of payments made to the gaming account (self-limitation) and have the right to block their account for defined periods or indefinitely (self-exclusion).
MINORS PROTECTION - The opening of gaming account requires the identification of all the players by sending the identity card and the fiscal code, with the obligation for the concessionaire to verify the consistency and truthfulness of the information added by players, also through a cross-check with the Sogei's Register office of gaming accounts, which in turn takes care of the confirmation. All suspicious requests to open new accounts, including those by minors, are promptly blocked and the related gaming accounts closed. The advertising of online gaming services can't be made in spaces and times that are not strictly reserved for adults.
MARKET AND PLAYERS - In 2017, in line with the last few years, the three most appreciated categories by players represent 91 percent of the market. Casino games continue to grow (+29% in 2017), with an expense of €569 million (equal to 41% of the total market), as well as that linked to sports betting (+59%), which today is worth €56 million (equal to 40 percent of the total market). Unlike in 2016, poker grows too, which in the sum of its two components - tournament and cash game - has increased by 4 percent to €144 million (equal to 10 percent of the total market). The remaining 9 percent, equal in absolute terms to €107 million and growing of 12 percent, is generated by the collection of 'other games', including bingo, lotto, virtual bets and so on.
In 2017, Italians who made at least one online bet were 2.2 million (+22 percent compared to 2016) and the expansion of user base was also recorded at monthly level: single active players on average per month are about 959 thousand, up to 25% compared to around 766 thousand in 2016. It is interesting to note that between 2016 and 2017 the rate of abandonment of online gaming by players was 29%. This means that of 1.8 million players active in 2016, there are about 1.3 million players who played in 2017 too. The catchment area of online gaming (2.2 million players a year in 2017) represents about 7 percent of internet users over 18 in Italy. As regards the Italian adult population, penetration is about 4 percent.
The
identikit of the typical player doesn't change: man (82 percent of the cases), living in the South-center (70 percent) and aged between 25 and 44 (53 percent). More than half of users plays occasionally and one third of players plays for only one month a year. In 2017 the impact of online gaming expenditure on the total expenditure of games with cash prizes (offline + online) was of 7.2%, growing compared to 5.4% in 2016. The overall penetration of online expenditure on total expenditure (online + offline) grew by almost two percentage points in 2017. The value must be compared to a gerenally stable context: in fact, total expenditure is essentially unchanged, as a result of the municipal, provincial and regional policies implemented on gaming devices.
Growth of
mobile gaming continues too, both in terms of initiatives (+13 percent) and in terms of gaming volumes. In particular, the expenditure generated on smartphones and tablets exceeds €350 million, growing more than 50 percent, driven by sports betting and casino games. In 2017, the expenditure generated on these devices grew by over 50 percent and exceeds €350 million, driven by sports betting (+65 percent) and casino games (+46 percent) and represented over a quarter (27 percent) of total online expenditure".
In 2017, the Italian State kept, in the form of a direct tax, almost €320 million - about a quarter of the expenditure – growing of 29 percent compared to 2016. Compared to the entire revenue from gaming industry (offline + online), online sector accounts for about 3.2 percent, growing compared to the 2.5 percent of 2016.