SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Italy’s ministry of finance and the national chamber of commerce have pushed through a series of amendments for the Italian gambling sector.
The amendments set to be implemented in 2016, center on reforming gaming duties in order to improve industry commercial conditions.
Italy will drop its controversial online betting turnover tax, set between 2-5% for and adopt a 22% charge on fixed net betting revenue. The new online betting tax duty will be 2% higher than the current charges placed on online casino, games and poker services.
The changes outlined to the nation’s online betting duties, form part of Italian legislators bid to open the market to new enterprises in 2016.
Since implementing its online gambling framework in 2010, multiple European operators have criticised Italian gaming authority Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS) of implanting an unfair tax scheme for online betting services.
The new online betting tax policy will need to be cleared by the national Chamber Committee, in order to be passed into corporate law.
Further gambling amendments saw an increase in taxes on amusement with prizes (AWP) and video lottery terminal (VLT) operators. AWP tax is set to increase to 17.5% while minimum payout rate will be lowered to 70%. The increase for VLTs is up 0.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent.
