Latest Italian gambling market figures published

Financial figures on Italian gambling market progress in August have been published, with online results showing better growth than the retail sector.

Year-on-year highlights from the results include:

* Overall sports betting revenue up 89 percent at Euro 83million;

* General retail betting revenue up 74.7 percent at Euro 43.8 million;

* Online betting up 108.6 percent at Euro 39 million;

* Online casino revenues up 30.6 percent at Euro 44.8 million;

* Online poker tournament entry fees up almost 20 percent at Euro 5.9 percent, but cash game revenue fell 3.8 percent to Euro 5.1 million;

* The government is about to make a new tranche of online gambling licenses available, reportedly around 120 of them at Euro 200,000 each.

Competition remains stiff in the Italian market:

* In online sports betting bet365 led the market in August with an 18 percent market share, followed by Planetwin365 (16 percent);

* Online casino market leader in August was Lottomatica with a 9.08 percent market share, pursued by PokerStars.it online casino at 8.93 percent, and with 8.81 percent. Bwin and William Hill trailed with market share at 6.36 percent and 5.39 percent respectively.

* In August online poker tournament action PokerStars led the market with an overwhelming 70.8 market share, and in cash game activity the online poker giant again dominated with a market share of 45.9 percent.

Looked at from a year-to-date perspective, online gambling revenues are up 34 percent, whilst retail revenue growth trails at 7.65 percent.