Buy-side acquisition · Italy
Buy a gaming license in Italy — ADM concession-holder acquisitions
Italy closed its online licensing window in 2025. The remote concessions awarded in that tender are now the entire supply, and a new entrant gets one in exactly one way: by acquiring the company that holds it. Cadena Brokers represents acquirers in that market, presenting Italian concession holders pre-vetted for regulatory standing, banking continuity, and clean shareholder history before they reach your desk.
Why Italy
A closed concession market in Europe’s deepest regulated pool
The Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), the Customs and Monopolies Agency that absorbed the old AAMS under Law No. 135/2012, supervises every legal game of chance offered on Italian territory. Legislative Decree No. 41/2024 rebuilt the remote segment from the statute up: Article 1 of the decree set the framework for reorganizing legal public gaming, and the tender that followed produced 52 online concessions held by 46 operators, valid for nine years from 13 November 2025. The application window has closed. There is no rolling admission, no licensing-by-application route, and the next tender is the better part of a decade away.
That scarcity is the acquirer’s case. Italy is one of Europe’s largest regulated online gambling markets by gross gaming revenue, and the supply of authorizations to serve it is now fixed (the awarded list reads like the sector’s consolidation map: Lottomatica, Sisal, Snaitech, Eurobet). Operators that did not apply for renewal were required to cease Italian operations by 12 November 2025, and their players have been re-routing to license holders since. A concession purchased at the corporate level buys a protected position in a market the state actively defends against unlicensed supply.
Scope
What the concession permits, and what survives a change of owner
A remote concession authorizes online offering per vertical and per brand: casino games, sports and event betting, poker, and bingo, each delivered through ADM-certified platforms and games tested by a recognized testing house. The concessionaire must be incorporated in an EU or EEA member state, and recent calls have required a minimum share capital of EUR 1,500,000. Fiscal terms are set by statute rather than negotiation. Following the 2024 reorganization, online casino gross gaming revenue is taxed at 25.5% and online sports betting at 24.5%.
Concessions do not trade on their own. The authorization attaches to the concessionaire company, so control changes hands through its shares or those of its holding company. Any change in corporate control requires notification to ADM, which runs a fit-and-proper test on the incoming owners and can refuse unsuitable ones; an unapproved transfer puts the concession itself at risk of revocation. Criminal-record certificates, source-of-funds evidence, and a clean group chart for the acquiring structure belong in the deal file before signing, not after closing.
One nuance experienced bidders check early: ADM ran an exit procedure in 2025 that let continuing licensees absorb the player databases of departing operators. A target that participated can show active-user counts well above what its own brand ever earned. Diligence the cohort behavior behind those numbers, not the headline figure.
Our book
What we broker in Italy
Our Italian mandates center on concession-holding operators and the holding companies above them. Typical profiles include mid-size concessionaires running one or two verticals under an established .it brand, group subsidiaries whose parent is consolidating around other markets, and operators whose founders took the nine-year award but lack the capital to compete with the majors across every vertical.
Before an Italian target reaches an acquirer, we have reviewed its standing with ADM, its platform and game certifications, the continuity of its banking and payment relationships, the substance of its AML program, and the provenance of its player base. Two or three of these checks fail more often than outsiders expect. That is precisely why we run them first.
Process
How an Italian acquisition runs
You brief us on verticals, revenue band, and platform requirements; we present matching concession holders from our book under NDA. Diligence focuses on the gates that matter in Italy: ADM standing, certification scope, banking continuity, and the change-of-control file. We structure the share transaction, coordinate the ADM notification and fit-and-proper review, and drive the deal to an expedited closing. The full four-step sequence is described on our process page.
Why Cadena
Why acquirers run Italy through us
- Buy-side only, including in Rome. We never represent the seller of an Italian concessionaire, so valuation pressure and information flow work in your favor, not against it.
- Pre-vetted for the ADM file. Every target has been screened against the fit-and-proper criteria the regulator will apply to your change-of-control notification, which means fewer surprises after signing.
- Fixed-supply expertise. Closed concession markets reward preparation and speed. We track which of the 46 awarded operators are consolidators and which are realistic sellers, so your approach lands where a deal can actually happen.
FAQ
Italy gaming license — acquirer questions
Can you still get an online gambling license in Italy?
Not by application. The ADM tender under Legislative Decree No. 41/2024 closed in 2025, and the resulting concessions run for nine years from 13 November 2025. Until the next tender, the practical route into the Italian online market is acquiring an existing concession-holding company, subject to ADM’s change-of-control approval. That is the transaction type Cadena brokers.
Who regulates online gambling in Italy?
The Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency. It took over gambling supervision from the former AAMS under Law No. 135/2012 and administers concessions, platform and game certification, and enforcement against unlicensed operators. Any change in control of a concessionaire requires ADM notification and a fit-and-proper review of the incoming owners.
How much is the online gambling tax in Italy?
Under the 2024 reorganization of remote gaming, online casino gross gaming revenue is taxed at 25.5% and online sports betting at 24.5%. These are statutory rates applied to GGR, not negotiable concession terms. Land-based verticals carry their own separate fiscal regimes and concession types.
How long is an Italian online gaming concession valid?
The concessions awarded in the 2025 tender run for nine years from 13 November 2025. Because the term is fixed and uniform, the remaining duration is a pricing input in any acquisition: every month that passes shortens the asset you are buying, which disciplined acquirers reflect in valuation models from the first offer.
Can a foreign company buy an ADM-licensed operator?
Yes, provided the structure works. The concessionaire itself must remain incorporated in an EU or EEA member state, and the incoming controllers must clear ADM’s fit-and-proper test covering integrity, source of funds, and group transparency. Non-EEA acquirers typically hold the Italian concessionaire through an EU holding company. We structure for that review before the transaction is signed.
Mandate
Brief us on your Italian acquisition
Tell us the verticals, the revenue band, and the platform you need. We respond with matching ADM concession holders from our book, under NDA, with the diligence groundwork already done. Also see our Malta gaming and Curaçao gaming pages, or the full coverage index.
