Flutter to wind down Betfair Exchange, Sportsbook and Casino in Italy after regulatory changes

Flutter Entertainment is closing down the Betfair brand in Italy. The company told SBC News that the Betfair Exchange, Sportsbook and Casino will soon be discontinued, even though the NYSE-listed group keeps a large local presence through other brands.

A Flutter spokesperson said recent regulatory changes in Italy had made the Betfair Exchange product no longer commercially sustainable. As a result, the company also decided to stop the Betfair Sportsbook and Casino offerings in the Italian market soon. The spokesperson described this as a very small share of Flutter's revenue in Italy and said it would have no effect on its other brands or on employees based in the country.

The decision follows a wide-ranging review of Italian gambling rules, which produced a new market structure for online betting and casino operators in November 2025. Under the new licensing framework, operators need a separate licence for each brand rather than one licence covering several. Flutter must therefore hold licences issued by the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) for Betfair, Sisal, Snai and PokerStars. Exchanges such as Betfair now fall under fixed-odds betting regulations. It remains unclear whether the licensing change or another rule triggered the withdrawal.

Italy remains important to Flutter. The Southern Europe and Africa region, which includes Italy, was the group's third-largest region between January and June 2026, with revenue up 36% year on year to $896 million. Flutter bought Sisal in 2021 and Snaitech, the company behind Snai, in 2024. Integration of Snai, whose acquisition closed in April 2025, is still under way.

The move comes as Italy's Ministry of Finance and Economy projects about 1 billion euros in additional gambling taxes between 2027 and 2028. Industry players still view Italy's tax rate more favourably than those of some other European countries.

A further opportunity could arise from a scratchcard tender. The Meloni government is weighing whether to select a private partner to sell lottery scratchcards. Sisal could bid, though it would probably face the LottoItalia consortium made up of Allwyn, Arianna 2001, Novomatic Italia and IGT.