by Valentina Furlanetto
1 ‘of reading
Lotto and Superenalotto start again on May 4th. This is foreseen by the new decree of the Customs and Monopolies Agency on the resumption of activities after the total suspension of games and lotteries decided on 21 March last. The state makes it known that it restarts that gambling which gives it 14.2 billion in tax revenue every year. With the lockdown the bingo rooms and the betting rooms were closed, the slot machines in the tobacconists were turned off, just as Lotto and Superenalotto were suspended.
According to experts, however, it is possible that a part of the habitual players, forced to quarantine, have moved to online gambling. In Italy, Agimeg speaks, for example, of a + 123% of poker spending in March 2020 compared to the same month last year. On the contrary, the collection of online sports bets has fallen, due naturally to the suspension or cancellation of the main sports events due to the effect of Covid-19. In 2019, Italians spent € 110 billion on Lotto, slot machines, Scratch & Win, € 1,833 each, including babies.
An occasional pastime for many, a border-line craze for the million people cataloged by the Cnr “at moderate risk”, a real addiction for 400 thousand ludopaths. To treat these people, the state spent 100 million euros in 2018-2019.
