Report claims illegal gambling boomed in Italy during pandemic

Illegal gambling in Italy rose more than 50% during the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, a Lottomatica-commissioned report has claimed.

The report, which was presented to the country’s Senate earlier this week, estimates the value of Italy’s illegal gambling in 2020 as €18bn. This marked a significant increase on the 2019 estimate of €12bn, with Lottomatica warning that the illegal market could top €20bn by the end of 2021.

This led to enforcement action by Italian authorities being ramped up in recent months, the report continued. Between January 2020 and April 2021, an underground gambling room was discovered once every three days. In this period, 145 investigations were conducted by the police and 1,000 people were reported to law enforcement, up from 493 people in 2019.

Source: https://igamingbusiness.com/report-claims-illegal-gambling-boomed-in-italy-during-pandemic/