Italy delays iGaming certification system due to test failures

ADM, Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency, has postponed the launch of its new online gambling certification system. A delay first announced in October moving towards a November deadline with a phased timetable, has now been provisionally shifted to 15 February 2027. Italian media reports that ADM received too few certification applications to launch the system in October and November. Operational problems persisted despite technical support from regulator and technology partner SOGEI, Italy’s state-owned IT firm. November maintains the deadline for concessionaires to provide gaming systems to other operators (CFS providers) and platforms that need to be in a shared certification library. CFS operators need to submit conformity results by 13 January. Technical and functional checks must finish by 12 February (production launch three days later). The new framework is part of Italy’s online gambling overhaul under Legislative Decree 41/2024. It aims to strengthen oversight of technology underpinning licensed gambling, check platform components and integration through approved verification bodies. ADM’s aim is security and transparency but without disrupting licensed gambling or tax receipts. The technical postponement does not affect other concession requirements (identification, self-exclusion and player protection obligations. For land-based operators the government’s solution is another extension. The 2027 Budget Bill would extend betting, gaming-machine network and bingo concessions to 31 December 2029 (subject to further payments). These are not new concessions but extensions of existing arrangements. Parliamentary approval is still outstanding so the package is open to amendment before the Budget is passed. The bill also proposes big machine changes from January: the standard PREU levy would rise from 24% to 25% for amusement-with-prizes machines and from 8.6% to 9.6% for video lottery terminals. Maximum AWP stakes would be doubled from €1 to €2 and maximum prizes from €100 to €200. Another provision would levy a reduced 20% levy on qualifying AWP machines which returned at least 70% of stakes in winnings. PM Giorgia Meloni’s plan to revive comprehensive retail reform in 2027 is unclear. The previous legislative mandate ended in August without an agreement on the settlement with the physical gambling network. With an election due next year the concession extensions would relieve immediate pressure to resolve contentious issues over venue allocation and relations with regional authorities.