The 2023 edition of the Blue Book was published by A.D.M. on its institutional website on last September 3. The gaming sector confirmed the positive trend that began in 2021 and continued in 2022. In 2023, in fact, there was an increase in all gaming volumes compared to the previous year: 8.53% for wagers, 9.76% for winnings, 1.60% for expenditure, and 3.62% for revenue. Spending on land-based gaming reached €16.3 billion, a slight increase compared to €16.1 billion in 2022. Remote gaming revenues grew by 12.95%, driven primarily by a 12.77% increase in “Remote skill games,” which account for 78.08% of total remote gaming revenues, and “Sports-based gaming,” which increased by 14.59% and represents 17.11% of total remote gaming revenues. Furthermore, between 2022 and 2023, the ratio of winnings to revenues increased slightly, from 85.03% to 86%. while, instead, the ratio between the Treasury and collections decreased from 8.24% in 2022 to 7.87% in 2023. In both cases, the aforementioned data are determined by a greater use of remote gaming, in which on the one hand the return in winnings is higher and, on the other, the incidence of taxation is lower.
Analyzing the contribution to the Treasury of the various types of physical and remote gaming in 2023, the ADM highlights how the gaming machine sector (AWP, VLT, and Section 7 of the TULPS) represents 52.71% of the state revenue from the sector. This is followed by numerical games and lotteries, which account for 32.82% of the gaming revenue and include totalizator numerical games, lotteries, Lotto, and other fixed-odds numerical games (10 and Lotto and MillionDay). Within this category, 49.66% of the revenue is attributable to lotteries, 31.48% to Lotto, and 18.86% to totalizator numerical games. Betting accounts for 6.54% of the tax revenue, with sports-based gambling accounting for 96.79% of the total, followed by horse racing (2.64%) and betting exchange (0.57%). The remaining 7.92% is attributable to online skill games (76.75%) and bingo (23.25%).
Of the total revenue of €11.62 billion from legal gaming in 2023, €5.52 billion came from the gaming machine sector, €3.44 billion from number games and lotteries, €0.68 billion from betting, and €0.83 billion from “other games.” The “other” category includes €1.15 billion, which includes the payment of amounts held in online gaming accounts that have not been used for three years (so-called dormant accounts), the tax on winnings pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 50/2017, and the additional amount provided for by the 2015 Stability Law. Over €423 million was spent by Italians on Bingo in 2023. Winnings returned to players totaled approximately €1,029 million. In 2023, a general reduction in the number of establishments with AWPs and VLTs was observed compared to 2022, by -2.82% and -1.35%, respectively. Given the maximum number of AWPs (or rather, operating permits) set by law, a decrease of -2.60% was observed in the number of machines. The number of VLTs and Comma 7 machines also decreased slightly, by -0.35% and -0.26%, respectively. The territorial control index (i.e., the ratio between the number of businesses inspected and the number of businesses registered by the ADM systems) is 19.89%, with an assessed tax of 121.5 million euros, 3,665 fines imposed (36.25 percent more than in the previous year), 19,894 businesses inspected, and 490 websites blocked (87.74 percent more than in 2022).
Furthermore, during 2023, the Customs and Monopolies Agency intensified its commitment to strategic organizational planning, orienting its activities toward an advanced model of digital organization and transformation. This action was seen not only as a continuation of existing processes, but also as a lever to proactively address new system challenges, characterized by increasing regulatory, technological, and operational complexity. In this context, the Agency initiated a structured review of its structures, aimed at strengthening and improving internal processes, with particular attention to leveraging enabling technologies and adopting innovative solutions. The main ADM interventions/projects in the gaming sector were: 1- Evolution of horse racing and sports betting totalizators: introduction of the Bonus and management of odds errors for fixed-odds sports, management of automatic reporting of anomalous behavior by concessionaires; 2- Various interventions relating to amusement machines; 3- Adaptation of AWP and VLT monitoring functionality for ADM offices: solutions were implemented for managing fees for AWP machines and for testing VLT halls, with the introduction of automatic support ticket opening; 4- Management of the expiration of the telematics network concession: introduction of the applications necessary for calculating and publishing data relating to the management of the onerous extension of the AWP and VLT concession, both in the ADM Intranet environment and in the concessionaires’ reserved area; 5- Development of augmented reality tools for AWP monitoring; 6- Evolution of monitoring and electronic request entry for devices without cash prizes: introduction of the submission of reports of theft (NOE and device), fire, and loss, introduction of the related request monitoring functions by ADM officials, for devices without cash prizes (Article 110, paragraph 7, TULPS); 7- Production of video tutorials for operators and officials involved in the dematerialization process (Article 110, paragraph 7, TULPS); 8- Instant receipt lottery: the project led to the certification, in collaboration with university institutions, of the RNG (Random Number Generator) system for the instant lottery drawing system; 9- Analysis for the development of functions that allow citizens to participate in the instant lottery via dematerialized receipts; 10- Analysis to identify new indicators useful for combating suspicious activities. (Sources: A.D.M.; Agimeg 4.09.2025)