Italy’s government has confirmed that the gambling sector will contribute approximately €700 million to the state budget for 2027, as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed off the country’s Budget Law this week. The figure forms part of a wider fiscal package that also draws on the banking, insurance and energy industries to fund tax cuts and new spending ahead of next year’s general election.
What happened
Italy will raise taxes on banks, insurers, energy firms and the gaming industry to help finance its 2027 budget, ministers said after cabinet approved the last financial bill under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before an election due next year.
Financial firms will have to contribute more than €5 billion to help finance these measures, with energy companies and the gambling sector each providing €700 million.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft budget law on 28 October, with the bill now moving to parliament for final approval by the end of the year.
At her press conference, the prime minister confirmed that €700 million would come from gambling, a rounding of the Draft Budgetary Plan sent to Brussels earlier this month, which pencils in €718 million in both 2027 and 2028 and €478 million in 2029.
Exactly how the levy will be collected remains unsettled.
Italy’s gambling sector could fund its roughly €700 million share of the 2027 budget through the aggio, the commission on lottery sales, and through online gaming, according to financial daily Milano Finanza, though the breakdown appears as only a single line in wider budget coverage.
The target itself has shifted repeatedly in the weeks leading up to approval.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance initially expected gambling taxes to generate €700m for the state over 2026 and 2027, an estimate that narrows earlier scenarios ranging from €400m-€500m to as much as €1bn.
Why it matters
The budget lands at an already demanding moment for Italian operators.
Licences under the regime that went live in November 2025 cost €7 million each, and operators must certify their systems under new technical rules by 15 February 2027, while Italy’s Dignity Decree still bans gambling advertising.
That combination of licensing costs, certification deadlines and an advertising ban leaves operators with limited room to absorb a fresh tax bill through commercial growth.
Analysts quoted in trade coverage flag the timing risk directly.
Operators are rebuilding their systems to meet ADM’s new technical rules, a process so troublesome that the regulator pushed back the deadline to 15 February 2027, and with certification still under way, extra financial pressure could strain operators at a delicate moment.
Because Italy bans gambling advertising, operators cannot simply market their way out of a bigger bill.
For affiliates and performance marketers, the advertising ban already limits the acquisition channels available in the Italian market, meaning any additional tax burden on operators is more likely to be absorbed through margin or product changes than through reduced marketing spend, since that spend is already constrained by law.
The bigger picture
Italy’s move fits a broader European pattern of governments treating regulated gambling as a dependable revenue line during fiscal tightening.
Italy’s betting industry remains one of the five biggest in Europe
, giving the sector scale that makes it an attractive target regardless of the compliance strain it creates for licence holders.
Italy’s budget was approved shortly after the UK’s was announced, and like Italy, the UK government is using gambling taxes to offset cuts elsewhere, though not to quite the same extent.
The gambling contribution also sits within a much larger package.
Financial firms will have to contribute more than €5 billion to help finance these measures, with energy companies and the gambling sector each providing €700 million.
The budget sets out tax cuts and spending hikes worth €26 billion, aiming to lower the fiscal burden for middle earners and the self-employed while increasing funding for the national health service.
Italy’s approach mirrors the UK’s recent budget decisions, detailed in Tenstar Media’s coverage of the Machine Games Duty rise to 25%, where the sector is similarly being used to plug fiscal gaps. With both of Europe’s largest regulated markets leaning on gambling taxation in the same budget cycle, operators across the continent should expect the trend to continue into 2027 planning.
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