Twist in Italy: more taxes on slots, vlts, online and betting

In the final text of the 2019 budget plan there is a new increase for Preu, together with the decrease in payout. But also for online and betting. Here are the numbers.

The increase in the Prelievo erariale unico (Preu, the single tax levy for italian gaming machines) applied on entertainment devices (both Awps and Vlts) starting from January, the 1st, 2019, will be of 1,25 percent. But this time it will be possible to have a downturn adjustment in the payout on both games, and the legislator sets the new minimum parameters: 69 percent of bets for slots and 84.5 percent for VLTs, thus decreasing the minimum winnings of the first ones by one point and that of the latter by half a point. These are the last minute news added by the government in the final draft of the text of the The budget plan that will be voted soon by Parliament and through confidence most likely. However, the government grants 18 months to "technical operations for adapting the winning payout percentage" from the entry into force of the law. Therefore, changes to slots and vlt platforms will have to be completed within June, 2020. Changes to the taxation of bets too, with the margin tax rising to 20 percent on the physical network (excluding horse racing betting) and to 24 percent on online games. While we read in the text that GiocoNews.it was able to preview, for remote skill games we arrive to 25 percent of the sums, that "according to gaming regulation are not returned to the player. The budget plan will be finally approved in the next few hours, close to Christmas and will actually be in force from January, the 1st, 2019