How to get a gambling licence in Italy: fees and steps

Remote public games with cash winnings may be run only under a concession granted by ADM after a public tender. Legislative Decree 41/2024 rebuilt the remote-gaming concession; the concessions it created were awarded on 17 September 2025 and the new rules took effect on 13 November 2025.

• ADM (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli) grants the concession for remote games (D.Lgs. 41/2024 art. 6(1)), receives and decides applications, certifies systems through approved verification bodies, runs the central system and the self-exclusion register, and orders unlicensed sites blocked. AAMS was merged into ADM from 1 December 2012, so older sources referring to "AAMS licences" mean ADM.
• The framework law is Legislative Decree no. 41 of 25 March 2024, published in Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 78 of 3 April 2024 and in force from 4 April 2024, made under the fiscal delegation of Law 111/2023 (art. 15). Every article (1-26) is unamended as of 19 October 2026.
• The Decree reorders the remote games first and leaves games collected through a physical network to a later decree (art. 1(2)); casinos keep their own rules (art. 1(3)). That land-based decree was not adopted within the delegation, which ended on 29 August 2026 (land-based).
• Each game family keeps its earlier ADM game rules until a regulation replaces them (art. 6(2)); four MEF regulations have been published under the Decree (penalties, revocation, instant lotteries, numerical games).

Laws that apply

• Decreto Legislativo 25 marzo 2024, n. 41 (reorganisation of public games, starting with remote games)
• Legge 9 agosto 2023, n. 111, art. 15 (fiscal-reform delegation)
• ADM tender documents, CIG B4DF5D6BCF (Determinazione 777860 of 17 December 2024): administrative rules, concession convention, technical rules
• Decreto Legislativo 23 dicembre 1998, n. 504 (imposta unica), rates set by Legge 30 dicembre 2024, n. 207, art. 1 c. 92
• Decreto Legge 12 luglio 2018, n. 87, art. 9 (Decreto Dignità, advertising ban)
• Decreto Legge 14 agosto 2020, n. 104, art. 102 (blocking of unlicensed sites)
• Legge 13 dicembre 1989, n. 401, art. 4 (unlicensed gambling offences)
• Decreto Legislativo 21 novembre 2007, n. 231 (anti-money-laundering)

One concession covers one or more of the remote games in art. 6(1)(a)-(f) of D.Lgs. 41/2024: betting on sport and other events, horse-race pools and games, skill and card games, fixed-odds casino-type games, betting exchange and bingo. Lotto, numerical games and lotteries are reserved to their single concessionaires.

• The EUR 7 million is per concession, so a group taking the maximum of five commits EUR 35,000,000 in one-off fees.
• The fee splits into EUR 4 million on award, paid before the convention is signed, and EUR 3 million when service actually starts, which must be within six months of the grant.
• The concession fee (canone) is 3% of net margin: collection minus winnings paid and the related taxes and levies. In the year of signing, a convention signed in the first half pays EUR 300,000 on account by 16 July. It is separate from the gaming tax (section 7).
• Lotto, numerical games and instant or deferred lotteries may be sold by a concessionaire only with ADM's authorisation and a licence from the single concessionaire, which must pay it an aggio of at least 8% (art. 6(4)).

The tender is open to companies seated anywhere in the European Economic Area that pass ADM's experience, solidity and integrity tests. No Italian company, office, bank or director is required.

• The concessionaire must be a company limited by shares (società di capitali) with its registered office in Italy or another EEA state (art. 6(5)(a)). A non-EEA group bids through an EEA-incorporated company. ADM's rectification of 14 January 2025 removed the draft duty to open an Italian secondary seat.
• Experience: running or collecting games in an EEA state under a valid local authorisation, with revenue of at least EUR 3 million over the last two closed financial years; the experience may be held through controlling or controlled companies (art. 6(5)(b)).
• Every holder of more than 2% of the capital is identified to ADM (art. 6(5)(f)); exclusion tests from the public-contracts and anti-mafia codes apply to the company, its directors and key persons, and listed offences bar a concession even on a non-final conviction.
• Servers and infrastructure may be anywhere in the EEA (art. 6(5)(n)). Player money is held in dedicated bank or postal accounts in the concessionaire's name, with no Italian bank required.

Access is competitive and time-boxed: there is no continuous application route. ADM examines a complete application within 60 days, and silence counts as rejection (art. 6(7)).

• The 2025 tender was filed electronically on Consip's platform (www.acquistinretepa.it) with SPID, CIE or eIDAS, a digital signature and a provisional guarantee of EUR 750,000 per concession requested, plus the ANAC contribution of EUR 560.
• The bid carried an investment plan certified by an independent third party, with firm investments of at least EUR 700,000 a year per concession in the first two years, and an independently certified technical report.
• After the award the winner has 35 days to file the signing documents, including the definitive guarantee and the EUR 4 million instalment; the convention is signed not earlier than 35 days after the award list and within 60 days of the award.
• The old concessions expired on 31 December 2024 and ran under technical extensions to 17 September 2025 and then to 12 November 2025.

Every concessionaire runs a system certified by an ADM-approved verification body and connected in real time to ADM's central system. Certification comes after the award and before collection starts.

• The whole system (game systems and platforms, game applications, the acceptance system, the site and apps, the player-account system and the software-integrity check) is verified by an Organismo di Verifica (ODV) under agreement with ADM, or by Sogei for simulated-event bets. ADM's list updated 30 December 2025 names nine bodies, eight of them for remote gaming.
• Bets, account movements and balances go to the central system in real time over a dedicated line or VPN, under ADM's protocols (PACG 3.3 for player accounts).
• Servers and cloud resources must be in the EEA; cloud services must meet the AGID and ACN requirements for the public administration, with data encrypted in transit and at rest, and a disaster-recovery copy at a separate site.
• Certificates ISO 9001:2015, ISO 26000:2020 and ISO 27001:2024 must be held for the whole concession, from the start of service.
• Games and platforms from outside suppliers are certified inside the concessionaire's system; there is no separate supplier licence. A supplier that lends its game system to other concessionaires must itself hold a concession.

Player protection is built into the concession: identity checks before play, limits set before the account opens, and one self-exclusion register for every concessionaire.

• Accounts open only after identification with a valid identity document and tax code, or with SPID or CIE (ADM determination of 11 November 2025, in force from 13 November 2025), and ADM's validation in the central system.
• The player sets limits before the account is activated, on time, spend, loss and deposits; the first-activation values are capped, with lower caps for players aged 18 to 24. A stricter limit applies at once, a looser one from the seventh day.
• The Registro Unico delle Autoesclusioni (RUA) covers every concessionaire. ADM's account protocol 3.3 sets a fixed term of 7 to 270 days or an indefinite exclusion, which can be revoked only after nine months, with return seven days after notice. ADM's RUA web page still states 30, 60 or 90 days: confirm with ADM what a request made there produces.
• Alerts must show at least every hour of play and every EUR 100 of spend in a session.
• Each concessionaire invests 0.2% of its net revenue (ricavi netti) every year, at most EUR 1,000,000, in information campaigns on themes set by a government commission (art. 15(2)).
• Since 10 September 2026 complaints go to the concessionaire through ADM's Portale delle segnalazioni; the concessionaire answers within 72 hours and owes EUR 10 for each day late.

The gaming tax is the imposta unica of D.Lgs. 504/1998, charged on gross gaming revenue and separate from the concession fee. The 2024 Decree did not change it.

• The tax is settled for each day of events and paid by the 16th of the following month; ADM's central system settles skill-game tax daily.
• Under D.Lgs. 41/2024 art. 5(3) the concessionaire's tax regime does not change for the life of the concession, and under art. 23(2) nothing changes on remote-gaming taxation until the land-based network is reorganised.
• A bonus used to stake counts as a sum played, and a prize paid as bonus counts as winnings paid (ADM Determinazione 167944 of 18 March 2024).
• Gaming operations are exempt from VAT; services that suppliers bill to the operator carry 22% VAT, reverse-charged when the supplier is non-resident, unless they are necessary and indispensable to collecting plays, which the Agenzia delle Entrate exempts case by case (DPR 633/1972 art. 10(1) no. 6). IRES is 24%.

Remote-gaming concessionaires are obliged entities under D.Lgs. 231/2007 as providers of gaming services (art. 3(6)).

• Customers are identified and verified at account opening or change, and ADM allows no simplified due diligence. Top-ups only by fully traceable means in the holder's name; cash only at a recharge point, up to EUR 100 a week.
• Records of identity, every opening, top-up and withdrawal, and the IP address, date, time and duration of the connections are kept for ten years (art. 53(3)).
• Suspicious transactions are reported to the UIF at the Bank of Italy without delay and before the transaction is carried out; the UIF instructions in force from 1 July 2026 require a "referente SOS" on the UIF portal.
• ADM supervises these duties under its AML determination of 18 November 2024 and passes failures to the Ragionerie territoriali; the Ministry of Economy and Finance imposes the fines.

Any form of advertising, direct or indirect, of games or bets with cash winnings is banned on any medium, and from 1 January 2019 sponsorship too.

• The ban is art. 9 of Decree-Law 87 of 12 July 2018, converted by Law 96/2018: television and radio, the press, posters, sports, cultural and artistic events, and digital channels including social media. Influencer advertising and personalised offers, even with the player's consent, are banned under AGCOM's guidelines (Delibera 132/19/CONS).
• Outside the ban: national deferred-draw lotteries, local prize events, ADM's safe-gambling logos, purely informative content on the licensed site, odds comparisons that only inform, business-to-business communications and trade fairs.
• AGCOM fines 20% of the value of the advertisement or sponsorship, never less than EUR 50,000 per violation, on the client, the owner of the medium or site and the event organiser.
• Decided AGCOM fines include EUR 5,850,000 on Meta Platforms Ireland (20 December 2023), EUR 1,350,000 on Twitter International (6 March 2024) and EUR 450,000 on Google Ireland (21 February 2024).

ADM orders unlicensed sites blocked, publishes the register of concessionaires and of blocked sites, and can suspend, revoke or declare forfeiture of a concession.

• Blocking rests on art. 102 of D.L. 104/2020: ADM orders internet providers to block sites that offer or advertise games unlawfully, and a provider that breaches an order pays EUR 30,000 to 180,000 per violation. ADM's list of 13 October 2026, valid from 29 October 2026, holds 13,079 entries.
• Running remote gaming without a concession is a crime: three to six years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 20,000 to 50,000 (L. 401/1989 art. 4). A player who takes part in unlawful games also commits an offence.
• ADM publishes forfeitures: concession 15224 (La Multipla S.r.l.) in 2013, concession 15001 (Nexigames Limited) on 1 April 2022 and concession 15133 on 1 August 2025.
• The register of authorised concessionaires lists 52 concessions, codes 16000 to 16051, held under 46 company names, with one website each.

A realistic route into the Italian online market. Entry is tender-gated, so the first task is timing; certification and central-system integration are the long poles once a concession is won.

1. 01

   Confirm a tender window is open

   Timing

   Concessions are awarded only through ADM public tenders. The 2025 window closed on 30 May 2025 and no later tender is listed as of 19 October 2026; the alternative is taking over a concession with ADM's prior authorisation.

2. 02

   Budget the full cost

   Planning

   Per concession (up to five per group): EUR 7 million in fees, a provisional guarantee of EUR 750,000, a definitive guarantee of EUR 3,713,746.45 in the first year, at least EUR 700,000 of investment a year for two years, the 3% canone, the 24.5% or 25.5% gaming tax and the 0.2% communication spend.

3. 03

   Set up or confirm the EEA company

   Structuring

   Use a company limited by shares seated in an EEA state. A non-EEA group bids through an EEA-incorporated company; identify every holder of more than 2% and clear the anti-mafia checks.

4. 04

   Meet the experience and solidity tests

   Eligibility

   Document at least EUR 3 million of gaming revenue over the last two closed years under an EEA licence, and the balance-sheet ratios of the administrative rules from approved accounts.

5. 05

   Prepare the technical and responsible-gambling design

   Technical

   Design the system to the ADM technical rules: EEA servers or qualified cloud, one .it site, first-activation limits, alerts and RUA integration; have the technical report and the investment plan certified by independent third parties.

6. 06

   Submit the bid and pay the award instalment

   Regulatory

   File within the window on Consip's platform; on award, file the signing documents within 35 days, post the definitive guarantee and pay EUR 4 million per concession.

7. 07

   Certify the system with an approved verification body

   Technical

   Ask an ODV on ADM's list for the technical conformity check of the whole system; collection starts only after ADM's certification with a positive result.

8. 08

   Integrate with the central system and the RUA

   Technical

   Pass the communication tests with ADM's central system and wire in the self-exclusion checks, so excluded players cannot bet, deposit, take bonuses or open accounts.

9. 09

   Start service within six months and pay the balance

   Regulatory

   Start service within six months of the grant, with the ISO certificates, EEA servers and .it site in place, and pay the EUR 3 million balance.

10. 10

    Pay the gaming tax and the concession fee

    Tax

    Pay the imposta unica on GGR (24.5% betting, 25.5% casino-type games, poker and bingo) by the 16th of each month, and the 3% canone in two instalments by 16 January and 16 July.

11. 11

    Stand up the AML programme

    Compliance

    Implement D.Lgs. 231/2007 duties and ADM's determination of 18 November 2024: identification, traceable top-ups, ten-year records, monitoring and suspicious-transaction reports to the UIF.

12. 12

    Launch with no brand advertising and a complaints link

    Compliance / marketing

    Do not advertise or sponsor: the Decreto Dignità ban is in force and AGCOM fines at least EUR 50,000 per violation. Set up the contact centre and link ADM's Portale delle segnalazioni; answer complaints within 72 hours.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 19 Oct 2026.