Italian online casino revenue hits new high in December 2021

A record month for online casino helped Italian online GGR hit the highest total since May 2021 in December, but revenue was down year-on-year.

Total GGR hit €312.0m, up from €304.2m in November. However, this total was 13.0% down from December 2020, when revenue rocketed to €359m, a total that has still not been bested.

Online casino was the main driver of the month-over-month growth, with revenue up to €165.5m, the highest monthly total of the year. No single operator dominated the online casino market, but Playtech-owned Snai took the largest share at 9.1%, ahead of soon-to-be-acquired Sisal at 8.5%. In third place was long-time market leader Pokerstars with an 8.2% share, while Lottomatica held a 7.5% market share.

Sports betting declined from November and year-on-year, to €204.8m, with both online and retail betting revenue down from the previous month. Online revenue came to €125.1m, while the retail total was €79.7m. Goldbet moved into first place in combined betting revenue, bringing in 15.4% of total GGR and 23.0% of the retail market.

That combined figure narrowly edged out second-placed Snai’s 15.1%, while Sisal followed with 13.6%. Online-only brands struggled, with Bet365’s online market share dropping to just 6.7%.

Elsewhere, both tournament and cash poker revenue hit their highest levels since April 2021, with Pokerstars continuing its dominance of the vertical, while bingo recorded its highest total since May.

For 2021 as a whole, igaming revenue hit €3.46bn, up 46.1% from 2020. Casino and slot revenue was €1.77bn and sports betting revenue €1.44bn. Poker tournament revenue was €106.0m, while revenue from cash poker came to €71.2m. Bingo brought in €66.6m.

Igamingbusiness.com