Italy Budget Plan Targets Lottery Aggio and Online Gaming for €700 Million Gambling Contribution

Italy’s gambling sector could fund its roughly €700 million share of the 2027 budget through the aggio on lottery sales and through online gaming. This would shift the burden away from land-based retail. The detail appeared as a single line in pre-Cabinet coverage by financial daily Milano Finanza, as reported by iGaming Business. Until now the precise mechanism had remained undecided.

Cabinet is due to meet on 28 October to advance the €23.5 billion package, which relies on around €5 billion from banks and insurers. The final text may still differ from these early reports.

A Rounded Figure and Conflicting Reports

The €700 million is a rounded figure. The draft budgetary plan sent to Brussels puts gambling’s contribution at €718 million in 2027 and 2028 and €478 million in 2029 – close to €1.9 billion over three years.

This conflicts with other recent coverage that described scenarios built around a one-point rise in the PREU levy on gaming machine stakes and costlier concession extensions. A smaller PREU increase was reported to be meeting resistance within the governing majority.

Segment Impacts and Pending Clarity

The lottery angle raises contractual questions. The Lotto concession was re-awarded in 2025 to the LottoItalia consortium, led by IGT, for nine years at a fixed 6% aggio. Changing that rate during the concession term could prove legally difficult.

Online operators would face new costs on top of licences that cost €7 million each and an annual concession fee of 3% of net margin. They must certify systems under new technical rules by 15 February 2027.

Land-based licences for slots, retail betting and bingo expire on 31 December 2026, requiring another paid extension regardless. Current extensions raise about €232.76 million a year. Dario Peirone, director general of think tank Istituto Milton Friedman, warned that further tax tightening “would spell the final collapse of land-based gambling”.

Once Cabinet approves the bill it proceeds to parliament. The exact distribution of the burden will only be known when the final text is published. Operators should prepare for targeted cost increases in lottery and online segments while assessing the limited relief for retail.