Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casino
Italy
A large licensed market entered only through periodic concession tenders, and closed to advertising since 2018.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Sports betting | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Online poker | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Lottery | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
How the market works
Italy awards concessions rather than issuing licences on application. A tender is run, a fixed price is set, and the resulting concession runs for a defined term. Entry is therefore possible only when a tender is open, and the concession fee in the most recent round was high enough to concentrate the market further among established groups.
Italy licensed online casino games early, at the start of the 2010s, and the market is one of the largest in Europe by revenue, with a strong retail betting network alongside it. Technical obligations are extensive: games must be certified and every transaction reported to the agency's control system.
The decisive feature for anyone planning entry is the advertising prohibition introduced by the 2018 decree generally known as the Decreto Dignità, which bans gambling advertising and sponsorship with narrow exceptions. Italy is consequently the main worked example of how a market behaves when acquisition cannot be bought: brand recognition, retail presence and affiliate-free channels matter far more than in markets where media is available.
Who regulates it
Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), based in Rome and operating under Concession framework for remote gaming. The customs and monopolies agency, which awards Italian online gaming concessions by public tender rather than open licensing.
Licence types issued
- Remote gaming concession
- Retail betting concession
- Gaming machine concession
Questions about Italy
Other markets in Europe
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casino
Open licensing per game type
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
Licensed online casino
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casino
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casino
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.