Italy's gaming regulator ADM and the Guardia di Finanza financial police shut down two illegal betting shops in Agrigento province, Sicily, imposing administrative fines totalling more than €20,000.
The operation covered 14 betting shops and gaming halls across seven municipalities, including Agrigento, Favara, Palma di Montechiaro and the Pelagie Islands. Officers in Porto Empedocle seized two terminals disconnected from the national gaming network. The devices lacked identification codes and bypassed counters for stakes and payouts, allowing operators to evade the single national gaming levy (PREU), which is calculated on recorded turnover. The Porto Empedocle shop owner has been referred to Agrigento prosecutors on suspicion of running illegal betting operations.
The raid comes as Italy's land-based sector faces regulatory stagnation. Last month the EGP-FIPE federation told the Senate that repeated extensions of national gaming concessions have frozen market development. EGP-FIPE president Emmanuele Cangianelli argued that where retail supply is heavily restricted, demand does not disappear but shifts to online or grey-market channels with no oversight, undermining territorial controls and the viability of the legal network.
Earlier this month a bill was introduced in the Senate proposing a 2 per cent levy on all bets placed on domestic Italian football, both retail and online, with proceeds earmarked for the country's football system.
