Italian market declines in April after strong March
Growth slows after revenue rise in March hinted at signs of recovery.
The Italian egaming market’s growth has slowed in April, declining 8% from March which saw gross gaming revenues (GGR) rise 16.4% year-on-year.
GGR for April fell to 67.7m, however this was 9.3% up month-on-month on the same period in 2011, after newly-regulated casino and poker continued to perform strongly, offsetting the continued poor performance of fixed-odds betting, bingo and betting on horse racing.
However, revenues of 43.2m from skill games, card games and games of chance were down 2.2% on March, and 18% down on January’s takings of 52.5m, the strongest month for the vertical so far this year.
This was exacerbated by the continued poor performance of fixed-odds sports betting, which declined 29.1% year-on-year with revenues dropping from 25.4m to 18m from April 2011, and 21% down month-on-month. Revenues from fixed-odds betting have now fallen 27.8% for the year to date.
The decline in horse betting revenues slowed marginally after figures plummeted by more than 25% for the first three months of the year. Revenues of 0.93m for April represent the strongest performance for the vertical in 2012.
This decline has hit local operators in particular, with Snai the worst affected, posting a 97% year-on-year decline in net profit for the three months ending 31 March 2012.
The Italian market moved one step closer to introducing a further regulated product last week, when the country’s exchange betting decree was approved by the European Commission. However the decree will now return to the Italian administration for further comment, meaning a launch is far from imminent.