ROME: Italy’s gambling industry generated revenues of €19.17 billion in 2016, representing a solid 11.4% improvement over the previous year’s figures.
From that tally, the country’s slot machines accounted for €10.5 million of all gambling revenues, up by 10% compared to 2015, with the ubiquitous product proving a lucrative money spinner for the Italian government.
Similar to the situation in Australia, though, concerns exist that a proliferation in the number of slot machines can only lead to more instances of gambling addiction in a country where 1.3 million Italians are already believed to be problem gamblers.
As was noted during a Joint Conference between the state and the country’s various regions and local authorities:
“While on the one hand [slots] provide important tax revenues, on the other hand they entail important social consequences which cannot be ignored as they have been in past years.”
