Italy mobile revenues double in 2014
Report conducted by University of Milan shows operators accrued revenues of â¬99m from handheld devices
Mobile revenues in Italyâs online gambling market more than doubled during the course of 2014, a recent market study has shown.
The annual report, carried out by the University of Milan, found that revenues derived from mobile devices leapt from â¬49m in 2013 to â¬99m last year â almost five times the â¬20m posted in 2012.
Following this increase, mobile represented 14% of the total market, although this number was higher still for sports betting (27%) but lower for casino games (10%).
According to the report, the total market grew by 0.4% to â¬728m with casino and sportsbook having grown by 8% and 11% respectively while poker games dropped by 20%.
Growth in casino was predominantly led by slots, which represented 57% of all casino revenues, up from 48% the previous year. The vertical was also buoyed by the regulatorâs attempts to prevent the supply of games to the unlicensed market.
Sports betting also received a boost through the introduction of several liberalisation measures including the ability for operators to offer bets outside of the regulatorâs official schedule.
The University of Milan said 13% of all bets placed were on the new customisable markets while 48% of bets were in-play and 60% placed on singles.
However, despite overall growth, the online market remained small in comparison to the land-based sector at just 4.2% of the whole gaming market, the report found.