€300 per adult on gambling every year compared to €230 in the UK), the majority of Italy’s gaming operators, are laden with large amounts of debt and dwindling revenues. Lottomatica revealed debts of around €2.86bn in June last year, while Snai reported a net debt of €361m in its ?gures for the three months ending 30 September 2011. Snai was also the ?rst operator to reveal how its potential ?ne would impact the organisation, pulling out of its €140m acquisition of Cogetech in late February. Had Snai gone through with the deal, it would have been liable for Cogetech’s €255m ?ne alongside its own €210m penalty. Coupled with the €140m acquisition cost and its current debt, this could have put Snai almost €1bn in the red. It may appear strange that the Italian government is attempting to penalise one of the few growth sectors left in the country, especially as even if the companies were able to continue operating after being ?ned their budgets would be severely reduced, something analyst Fabio Pavan of Mediobanca believes could signi?cantly affect the sector. “I would say it is risky for Italy to put pressure on a sector in which the contribution of taxes is growing in triple-digit amounts. I expect that the sector would change, as you are talking about a segment that is going to face real pressure on its day-by-day activity if the ?nes are upheld,” he says.
THE FINES IN FULL
Snai
€210M
Lottomatica
€100M
Codere
€115M
Cirsa Italia
€120M
Sisal
€245M
G.Matica
and whether the delays in launching and connecting to the network were justi?ed. The watchdog found in favour of the operators, stating that there had been “no negligence on the part of the concessionaries”. As a result the council of state dismissed the ?nes, only for the Corte dei Conti to ignore its ruling. With their budgets cut, local operators would be forced to rely on brand loyalty to maintain their market share. So far Italians are mainly loyal to local brands, allowing the likes of Snai, ?M????????1?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????A????M??????????????????????????????????????????????M???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????A????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%??????????????????????????????q]?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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