Italian betting in the first five months of 2009 up 9.5 percent

The Italian gambling market continues to show remarkable resilience despite the difficult economic climate in Europe, the state gambling regulator AAMS advised this week in presenting statistics for the month of May 2009.

Wagers in Italy rose 9.5 percent in the first five months of the year to Euros 22 billion, and total wagers in May, including slot machines, scratch and win cards, sports betting and lotteries, were Euros 4.342 billion, it said. May 2008 wagers were Euro 3.913 billion, according to the Agipro news agency.

During May 2009 scratch card and lotto wagers were down year on year, while sports betting and online poker were higher, with the market generally showing remarkable resilience in the difficult economic climate.

The market leading Italian gambling company Lottomatica SpA posted higher first-quarter results. Two-thirds of the rise Lottomatica expects in full-year EBITDA will come from its Italian activities, it has advised. Lottomatica holds the concessions for Italy's Lotto game and Gratta & Vinci scratch cards. It also has activities in sports betting and online poker.

AAMS gave the following snapshot of May results (millions of euros):

                            May 09       Apr 09      May 08

Slot machines          2,004         2,014         1,784
Scratch cards            741             889            790
Lotto                         479             449            539
Sports betting            420             418            295
Horserace betting      172              183           218
Superenalotto            206             196            156
Online poker              200             188              nil
Bingo                        120             105            131

Totals                     4,342           4,442         3,913

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