Italian Race Wagering

Italy allows both ontrack and offtrack betting. The industry started in 1948 when Sisal, a privately held company, introduced a betting product called Totip to the market. It still offers horse racing products under license from the Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS). Commercial betting pools began in Italy in 1954, and the AAMS gained control of the Italian sports and race betting industries as the national totalizator in 2002. The AAMS enforces taxation to maximize revenue for the state and elects a number of charitable beneficiaries, including the Italian Olympic fund and charitable race horse support organizations.

In February 2008, the Italian government announced plans to launch a public tender for 329 horse race betting concessions by the end of 2008. Historically, the tender process has been filled with controversy because domestic and existing operators were heavily favored over new and foreign companies. After pressure from the EU to comply with EU norms, a number of foreign firms, including Ladbrokes, William Hill and Codere, obtained betting licenses.

In 2009, another 3,000 horse betting licenses were put up for sale by the AAMS to continue the trend of democratizing the Italian gambling market.