Marginal increase in Italian online gambling action

New statistics from the Italian Observatory on Online Gaming report prepared by the University of Milan show that Italian online punters wagered Euro 726 million in 2014, a mere 0.1 percent rise year-on-year.

Casino action was that most favoured by players, generating Euro 255 million or 31.5 percent of all online action, a rise of 7 percent on 2013.

In order of magnitude, casino wagering was followed by Euro 214 million on sports betting; Euro 108 million on poker cash games; and Euro 70 million on tournament poker.

Online poker continues to decline in Italy, it appears; in the cash game environment, revenues dropped 21 percent year-on-year, whilst on the tournament scene poker fans spent 18 percent less y-o-y, and active poker accounts dropped from 303,000 in 2013 to 247,000 in 2014.

Online poker tournament fans currently spend on average Euro 26 each annually, mostly going for buy-ins in the range Euro 2 to Euro 10.