Betfair is fully winding down in Italy as parent firm Flutter Entertainment responds to regulatory changes in the market.
Flutter confirmed to SBC News that the Betfair Exchange, Sportsbook and Casino will soon be discontinued, though the NYSE-listed multinational remains a formidable local player.
The decision comes amid a wide-reaching review of Italian gambling regulations, with a new market introduced for online betting and casino firms in November 2025.
Under the new licensing framework, operators need to have an individual licence for each of their brands, instead of holding one for multiple ones. Flutter must hold licences for Betfair, Sisal, Snai and PokerStars in Italy, issued by the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM).
It is unclear whether it is this or some other regulation that has prompted Flutter to close down Betfair in Italy. Under the new framework, exchanges like Betfair fall under fixed-odds betting regulations.
“Recent regulatory changes in Italy have made the Betfair Exchange product no longer commercially sustainable,” a Flutter spokesperson told SBC News.
“As a result, Flutter has also decided to soon discontinue the Betfair Sportsbook and Casino product in the Italian market.
“This represents a very small proportion of our revenue in Italy and will have no impact on our other brands or employees based in Italy.”
Italy still holds prospects for Flutter
As mentioned above, Flutter maintains a considerable presence in italy. The wider Southern Europe and Africa (SEA) region, which covers Italy, was the third largest region for Flutter between January-June 2026 with revenue up 36% year-over-year to $896m.
Flutter has been expanding its presence in Italy in the early-to-mid 2020s, purchasing Sisal in 2021 and Snaitech, the firm behind the Snai brand, in 2024. The integration of the duo since the acquisition of Snai was closed in April 2025 is ongoing.
It also comes amid Italy’s Ministry of Finance and Economy (MEF) projecting that it will gain €1bn in gambling taxes between 2027-2028 – though Italy’s tax rate is still seen much more favourably by the industry than in other European nations like the UK, France and Italy.
Amidst all this, a big opportunity for Flutter could come in the form of a scratchcard tender.
The Meloni government is considering whether to find a private sector partner to sell lottery scratchcards, which Sisal could be a bidder for – though it would likely find itself matched up against the LottoItalia consortium of Allwyn, Arianna 2001, Novomatic Italia and IGT.
