Best 7 Live Casinos in Italy

Italy, officially the Italian Republic is located in Southern Europe and is also considered part of Western Europe. Rome is its capital with Italy sharing land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the microstates of Vatican City and San Marino.

Italy is a parliamentary republic, and it became one after the referendum held on 2 June 1946, a day celebrated as Republic Day. An interesting thing to note is that this was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.

Italy is a highly developed country; it is regarded as one of the world’s most industrialized nations and a leading country in world trade and exports. It has a capitalist mixed economy, the third-largest in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. It is also a founding member of the G7.

Gambling legislation in Italy is pretty liberal when compared to most of the countries in Europe. For example, in 2006 Italy passed a legislation that allowed operators to offer a variety of betting services – both retail and online operators, meanwhile, other developed countries in the EU were taking measures to restrict any sort of gambling in their territories.

With time, this legislation was amended and the current version of it sets a clear distinction between games of chance and games of skill. Additionally, sports betting and lotteries are regulated and legal, but gambling – every version of it, no matter if it is organized in a public space or a private club is strictly illegal.

The body which issues licenses and regulates gambling activity is the Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS), which translates to Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies.

As for online gambling, in 2011, online poker games and other casino games were legalized by the Italian government. As expected, the legalization of online gambling prompted immediate growth and huge revenue for the government. Also, since 2012 slot machines have been legally permitted.

At the moment there are more than 160 active online gambling portals licensed in Italy, but it is worth noting that there are even more of those licensed offshore. There are still many players who prefer to gamble in online casinos owned by foreig n operators.

The most popular online casinos in Italy all support the Italian language and accept most of the Italian online payment options.

Gambling in Italy has been around for centuries and it has taken on many forms. The first evidence of gambling can be found even in the Roman Empire when Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, also known as the predecessor of the game of backgammon became increasingly known and popular among the Roman legionnaires.

The first gambling house was named “Ridotto” and it was opened in Venice in 1638. The purpose of its opening was bigger control by the government of the gambling activities of the citizens. The admission to Ridotto was free, but only wealthy people could afford to play there, as the stakes were pretty high. The most popular games in that online house were Biribi, which would be more like the modern lottery, and bassetta. Ridotto closed shop in 1774 and that led to a rise of closed gambling clubs which became known as “casinos”. Hence, the word casino is of Italian origin.

After that, the history of gambling in Italy is a bit turbulent as the country's legislation varied from the prohibition of gambling activities to the legalization of some of them. This all changed in 2006 when it is stated that the true liberalization of gambling began.

In 2007 additional law was passed in Italy – The Finance Act, which further secures online gambling. Its main goal was to regulate poker tournaments within the country.

The next important legislation came in 2009 when the Abruzzo Decree was passed. With this, the requirement for the operators to be based in Italy was cancelled and the licensing fees were reduced. With his decree first mentioned video lotteries and online gambling, poker roulette and casinos were all pronounced legal.

As gambling in Italy is well regulated, it can be safely said that the government is enjoying the benefits of good regulation.

There are more than 200 active gambling websites in Italy, and around 160 of them are online casino websites, with the rest being online poker websites, bingo websites and mobile casinos.

The good regulation offers security to the players, as the AASM is entrusted with the gambling matters – issuing the licenses, to enforcing the law within the industry. There are strict consequences in place for any violation of these rules, which can include trials, fines, bails etc.

As of right now, the future of online casinos in Italy is looking very bright. Italian players are more than fond of accessing these games quite frequently and playing them whenever they can. Some research showed that the trend will continue to rise in the upcoming years. But, there is one small bump on the road.

That bump on the road is a rather big political problem – the far-right political government led by Giuseppe Grillo introduced an advertising ban on all casino activities in the country in 2019. It effectively restricted any advertisement related to gambling – it applies to land-based and online operators.

So it can be said that history still repeats itself – Italy has always had turbulent times when gambling was in question, and it seems it will continue that way for the time being.

Gambling in Italy is illegal when it is organized in a public space, private club, or any place that is open to the public. To add to that, the gambling industry is controlled by the state, and the licensing body is the Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies.

Upon receiving the license request, the AAMS has a three-month license review period, after which the operator must obtain additional authorization to offer certain games. This also applies to the online platform of the operator – it must also be certified. One general rule says that a license can be issued to an operator that has a place of operations in the European Economic Area.

As for online gambling - it is legal. Italy has had a turbulent past with many governments trying to suppress online casinos in the country, and also forbidding foreign operators from entering the market. This all changed in 2010 when, with intervention from the EU, Italy passed a new law that provided foreign online casino operators to enter the Italian market and to offer their services to the local players.

The administrative body that issues licenses for operators in Italy is the Amministrazione Autonoma del dei Monopoli di Stado Stato. All operators, domestic or foreign must obtain a license from this body to begin operations in the country.

Before the intervention of the European Union in 2010 which forced Italy to open its doors to foreign operators, the market was only open for domestic companies. Offshore operators must meet various requirements to obtain the license from AAMS – financial, technical. Social and business requirements.

In addition to these requirements, operators must pay a one-off fee of $300,000. Operators must submit the application within a 30-day window each year and they have 90 days to fulfil the requirements. The regulatory body then will take three months to review the application and eventually issue a license.

The most popular games for Italian players are slots. One reason why that is the case can be put to the fact that they are very simple to play, and those games usually have a very low minimum stake per spin. So, anyone can enjoy the games without having to spend a lot of money or time learning the game.

The second popular game would be the card game of blackjack. It is also very simple to understand – all that is needed to win is to hold a better hand than the dealer, with the best hand being a ten-value card and an Ace.

The third highly popular casino game is spinning roulette, with it also having simple rules to play, involving predicting the colour, number, or section of the wheel in which a ball will randomly land. Here, there is no strategy to win involved, the game resets after every spin, so it can be said that where the ball lands are indeed random.

Recently, one game that exploded in popularity is poker, with players from Italy following the world's trend of participating in poker tournaments and enabling the game to sky-rocket in popularity.

Live casino games also deserve a mention as they have gained a massive surge in popularity in the recent period.

As the Italian gambling market is well regulated and the best operators are allowed to operate in that market, the list of game providers is big with quality ones, industry-bar setters. The list includes Net Entertainment, Yggdrasil, Play'n GO, Microgaming and Betsoft.

This would mean a high level of customer experience with these providers having hundreds of games with setting the standard in terms of quality of modern casino gaming.

Just like most of the well-regulated and saturated gambling markets in the world, Italy allows gambling sites that feature Bitcoin games. Those so-called crypto casinos are not very large in number, but their presence is slowly increasing. These casinos accept a wide range of cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin being the most popular cryptocurrency.

Bonuses are an important part of trying to lure as many players as possible in playing the casino games of a certain operator. Many players will, rightfully, choose their online casino based on the bonuses they have to offer.

The most popular bonus for Italian players is the welcome bonus that you can claim at any online casino. This bonus usually matches your first deposit by 100%, up to $100. In many cases, the casino will offer much larger bonuses, but players must have in mind the wagering requirement before claiming and using that bonus.

Free spins bonuses are the second most popular and they cover Free Games on a slot game of a group of slot games that are later converted into bonus. These bonuses are often paired with the welcome bonus, or they are presented as promotions during a certain time of the year.

Most online casinos in Italy also offer cashbacks ranging from 5-30%, so it is a good way to retain players by offering a certain percentage back from the loss of the player.

The No Deposit Bonuses are rarer than the previous two, but they are available for the players. Essentially, these bonuses do not require a deposit from the player, so it is a completely risk-free chance to win.

The first requirement in claiming these bonuses is that a player needs to be registered to the site of the operator with proof that it is not an underage person. Welcome bonuses can only be claimed once, upon the registration of the player and it usually covers the full sum of the first deposit by the player. Cashback bonuses are not complicated to get, as they always have a limit that can be returned to the player.

The same cannot be said for the free spin bonuses, as a player will need to first check which games those bonuses apply to, and also the wagering requirements for these bonuses vary.

The most widely accepted payment methods in Italy are credit and debit cards, but if a player chooses to go with alternative ones, there is a whole variety of payment methods available.

Paysafecard and OnShop are popular with Italian players for gambling online as they do not require a bank card. PayPal and Postepay are the usually most reliable ones, together with Skrill and Neteller.

PayPal has emerged as the world’s most trusted payment method, and that is not different in Italy. It offers extra security to the players with making casino deposits and it is quite simple to use and understand. The reputable online casinos in Italy all have integrated PayPal as a payment method.

In recent times, following the world’s trends, Bitcoin has emerged as a payment method in Italy, and players can find certain sites which allow the usage of this payment method.

However, due to the fact that players know very little of the true meaning of Bitcoin and the usage, it can be safely said that it has not yet emerged as a reliable and trustworthy payment method. Players still rely on the usual and more reliable payment methods such as PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, Postepay, Visa, MasterCard and so on.

Anyway, it would be wise to keep an eye on the cryptocurrencies, as they gain in popularity, and players may be less reluctant to use them while playing their favourite casino games.