The senator of Forza Italia Claudio Lotito (in the photo) relaunches his proposal to allocate a portion of betting to football. During the hearing in the Senate Finance Committee of the director of the ADM, Roberto Alesse, Lotito asked to know whether there are economic margins to allow football teams to receive a share of the premium deriving from betting, to be allocated in a manner linked to the sports infrastructure sector.
Director Alesse referred the details on the matter to a document that was left in the Commission's records. The document in question explains that "during the present legislature, parliamentary amendments have been presented several times aimed at establishing a Fund for the promotion of sport, intended for the financing of sport promotion projects, the promotion of investments in youth sports sectors and the promotion of the activities of the Italian Paralympic Committee, identifying coverage in the increase in the rates of the single tax connected to remote skill games with cash prizes, remote bingo games, fixed odds betting other than horse racing betting (both those for which the collection takes place on a physical network and those for which the collection takes place remotely), as well as fixed-odds bets on simulated events referred to in article 1, paragraph 88 of law 27 December 2006, n. 296. In the opinion of the Agency, the increase in the rates of the single tax would have a potentially depressive effect on collections and would lead to a greater tax burden on the dealers, who, in order to maintain the current levels of their revenues, would be forced to reduce the amounts of the collection made in winnings to players (pay out) to increase the tax base represented by the so-called margin (margin = collection-winnings). This would give rise to a decrease in the attractiveness of the game and, consequently, a possible shift of part of the collection towards the illegal offer which is already able to offer higher odds (not having to be subject to the tax), with consequent moving gaming outside of the legal scope and reducing collection. It should be added that the increase in the tax on online gaming would be added to the increase in the entry fee and the license fee requested in the tender for the new online concessions which already have a significant impact on the margins of future concessionaires, making the concession less " attractive” with the consequent risk of decreasing the number of potential interested parties. Finally, it is worth underlining that the betting schedule offers gaming on all sports, on sporting events from all over the world and, also, on non-sporting events. During 2023, bets on Serie A football represented only 14,8% of total bets on football alone, therefore excluding other sporting and non-sporting events. A recognition, in favor of football clubs alone, of a form of profit sharing would create a disparity compared to all the other stakeholders who could consequently also request it".
