AgiproNews Italian View: News tools see betting deliver a standout May…

AgiproNews Italian View: News tools see betting deliver a standout May…

Massimo Temperelli  – Sisal SPA

This May was a breakthrough month for the Italian betting sector as a reported GGR of €134 million (+45% on 2018 figures) was generated by its betting incumbents.

Driven by strong football betting on Serie A’s closing schedule, and the UEFA Champions League Final, a total turnover of €1 billion was reported across retail and online betting verticals.

Some good news for Italian bookmakers, sees the market allow for the introduction of ‘complementary betting offers’, strengthening bookmakers customer propositions for marketing and retention proposes.

Backed with new customer engagements, Italian bookmakers are working hard to ensure momentum is continued throughout the summer months, creating unique customer offers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and CONMEBOL Copa America tournaments.

Speaking to AgiproNews, Massimo Temperelli, Sports Betting Director at Sisal SPA, confirmed the introduction of ‘complementary offers’, as the market’s main driver:

“It has been a key factor, as confirmed by the successful “On-demand” initiative, even one and a half years after its launch. We continue to receive from 40 up to 50 requests from gamblers every day, succeeding on satisfying more than 80% of them”. The complementary betting offer – introduced a few years ago – contributed to the growth of the regulated market, while reducing the illegal operators market share. The Italian betting industry has been therefore modernized, making it closer to the English way.” Temperelli details.

At a regulatory level, Italian stakeholders now await for the implementation of the Dignity Decree and its new rules on gambling, which have been formally approved by the Minister of Economy Giovanni Tria.

The Lega-5Star coalition government maintains that it can generate ‘constant tax revenues’ of €300 million (+10%) with the new industry framework it has sanctioned.

Despite well-documented criticisms of the Decree’s tough mandate on gambling, the Decree’s approval will allow for Italian bookmakers to finally process long-awaited ‘cash-out’ functionalities within the coming months.

The introduction of ‘cash-out’ is seen as major advancement for Italian betting, whose leadership has urged successive governments to push for expanded policies on in-play and Asian handicap provisions.

Changes to Italian customer betting provisions were meant to be implemented in early 2018, however, Italy has persisted with an undefined agenda on customer offers… Moving forward, all stakeholders will be keeping a close eye on whether bookmakers can maintain their positive ‘May momentum’

_________________

Content Provided by AgiproNews Italia.


Source: SBC News