"In Italy, it should also be remembered the drop in revenue - in football amounting to over 100 million euros per year - caused, starting from the end of 2018, by the ban on even indirect advertising of bets (a measure which is also ineffective because the same ban does not apply in other European countries and so, in Italy, broadcasters broadcast matches where such advertising is permitted, as is the case for English football). Furthermore, professional football, and in particular Serie A, does not receive public contributions even from the revenues deriving from games and betting (as happens in other countries), despite football being the main "object" of this activity." . This is what we read in the brief filed by Serie A League following the hearing on the reform of Italian football held today in the Senate Culture Committee.
“We must then add – continues the document – the tax revenue deriving from betting, of which, as mentioned, nothing goes back to professional football”. Below is the data provided by the FIGC-PWC ReportCalcio 2023, also in a comparative perspective with the other European Leagues:
“The Lega Serie A intends to significantly strengthen investment in the youth sectors, both to ensure the growth of quality and value in Italian football, and to support the national teams,” the document continues. Among the proposals it is asked to "recognize a reward for companies that create infrastructures for the youth sector, with new resources (for example from games and betting)".
As regards regulatory proposals and actions with the EU, Lega Serie A "has developed a package of measures to improve the framework
Italian legislation. These are actions aimed at enhancing both the entire movement and the Serie A "product", so as to ensure an increase in revenue and a reduction in costs for the entire system." In this context two proposals are put forward: “Attribution of a percentage share of the volume of sports betting to the Serie A League for the relative distribution to the various Leagues (in proportion to the bets for each category), also with a restriction on the destination of at least part of the resources for the redevelopment and efficiency of the infrastructure and for investment in the youth and women's sectors (on the model of the UK Football Trust). The greater revenues from games and betting - in order not to burden public finances - can derive, without therefore necessarily intervening on the concessionaires' commission, from the prize pool share, from the forecast of new sources of revenue (e-sports regulation), from the restoration of the use of the identity document instead of the health card (recovery of foreign players and bettors). All this must be accompanied by the introduction of both more stringent controls and effective mechanisms against gambling addiction (without additional burdens on public finances); abolition of the ban on sponsorship and indirect partnerships for betting (without additional costs for public finances)”.
