Italy’s long-awaited overhaul of its land-based gambling sector has been removed from the government’s remaining 2026 legislative programme, leaving betting shops, gaming halls and bingo operators operating under the existing concession system for longer than expected.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has dropped the retail gambling Reorganisation Decree from the Council of Ministers’ agenda after almost two years of negotiations involving the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM), regional governments and municipalities. The decision effectively pushes one of the most difficult parts of Italy’s gambling reform beyond 2026.
The government is now concentrating on preparations for the 2027 Budget, broader tax reforms and fiscal consolidation. The change of priorities follows reports that Meloni declined to approve the final version of the land-based gambling package for inclusion in the upcoming budget process.
The central obstacle remains the division of regulatory powers between the state and local authorities. The proposed reform was intended to create a more consistent national framework for betting shops, gaming halls, bingo venues and machine gambling while placing ADM at the centre of licensing supervision.
However, regional governments and municipalities would have continued to retain important powers over matters including minimum distances between gambling venues and sensitive locations, opening hours and other local operating requirements. Those issues have produced different rules across Italy and repeated disputes between operators and public authorities.
Earlier versions of the reform envisaged a substantial restructuring of Italy’s physical gambling network. Plans included keeping the national betting-shop network at approximately 10,000 locations, reducing the number of premises hosting gaming machines and cutting the number of amusement-with-prizes and video lottery terminals in operation. ADM certification requirements covering player protection, underage gambling prevention and venue standards were also expected to form part of the new framework.
The government had also considered a new concession structure. Previous proposals included retail betting concessions offered in blocks of 25 licences with a base price of €1.5 million, bingo concessions starting at €350,000 per venue and gaming-machine concession packages beginning at €25 million. Regional authorities were expected to receive a share of gambling revenue under the redesigned system.
Those plans will now remain unresolved while the government continues relying on extensions of existing concessions.
Italy had already introduced temporary arrangements to prevent disruption while the wider reform was being negotiated. The 2025 Budget Law extended concessions covering bingo, land-based sports betting and gaming-machine networks after authorities acknowledged that an agreement with regions and local governments on a sustainable regulatory framework had still not been reached. Bingo concessions, for example, were extended through the end of 2026.
Further extensions are now increasingly likely as no replacement licensing system is ready to take effect.
The continued use of concession extensions is also legally sensitive. In October 2025, Italy’s Council of State ruled that a previous statutory extension of bingo concessions was incompatible with EU concession rules in the circumstances considered by the court, highlighting the potential legal problems created when temporary arrangements continue without competitive procedures.
The latest delay arrives as government gambling revenues are weakening. In the first half of 2026, Italian gaming tax revenue fell 6.3% year-on-year to €3.64 billion. Indirect receipts from lotteries and other gambling activities declined 8.4% to €3.07 billion, while gaming machines generated €2.47 billion for the state, 7.3% less than during the corresponding period of 2025.
The figures increase pressure on policymakers to establish a stable long-term framework for a sector that remains an important contributor to public finances.
Lottomatica Chairman and CEO Guglielmo Angelozzi has also acknowledged that a delay had become increasingly likely. The company believes unresolved retail rules make it difficult for the market to move into another phase of consolidation, although the immediate operating environment may remain largely unchanged for several years.
Italy has already completed a major overhaul of its online gambling licensing regime, including significantly higher concession fees and stronger technical and compliance requirements. The land-based segment was intended to form the second major phase of the Meloni government’s gambling restructuring programme.
With the retail decree now removed from the 2026 agenda, attention will shift to the 2027 Budget and the terms under which existing betting, bingo and machine concessions are kept active. Unless the government revives negotiations with regional and municipal authorities, Italy’s fragmented land-based regulatory system is likely to remain in place well into 2027.