AAMS May Make Changes to Italy’s Online Gambling Tax Policy

Since the Italian gambling regulation authority, better known as the AAMS, began granting licenses in mid July of this year to allow online casino operators to legally offer internet casino games to Italian players, Italy’s online gambling market has become incredibly popular and highly lucrative.  After legalizing online casino games, the AAMS has monitored the industry’s results and made discoveries that may bring about a change in the way they tax operators.

European gambling regulatory authorities typically charge a turnover tax on internet gambling.  So far, the AAMS has accepted a 20 percent tax on gross profits.   However, they may change to turnover tax if the taxation policy doesn’t pull in the expected tax revenue.

Once casino games on the net were made available to players, many internet and television advertisements were released to promote online gambling.  This quickly attracted the interest of a huge number of Italian gamblers, which boosted the large turnover amount.   The resulting volume steadily increased each week anywhere from three times to ten times higher than the week before.  As such, the estimated turnover revenue for Italy’s online gaming market for 2011 surpasses €10 billion, and is estimated to be more than €20 billion for 2012.

Although online poker money games are intended for release in November of this year, the two main events occurring in 2012 that will have a significant impact on the market are the introduction of slot games and the welcoming of major foreign operators into the Italian internet gambling market.  Hence, with all of these additions, profits are certain to improve mightily as more Italian players are drawn to gambling sites.   This being the case, before future online casinos are able to take part in Italy’s online gaming turf, current licensed operators are eager to secure market share.