Italy mobile revenues double in 2014
Report conducted by University of Milan shows operators accrued revenues of 99m from handheld devices
Mobile revenues in Italy’s 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 49m in 2013 to 99m last year – almost five times the 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 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 regulator’s 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 regulator’s 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.