Bitcoin & Crypto Casinos in Italy: Legal Guide

Is online gambling legal in Italy? (October 2026)

Yes, through operators holding a concession from the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), the customs and monopolies agency. Italy has one of Europe’s oldest regulated online markets, covering casino games, slots, poker, bingo and sports betting. Offering gambling to players in Italy without an ADM concession is a criminal offence under Article 4 of Law 401/1989, which the Court of Cassation confirmed again in judgment no. 10838 (hearing of 20 January 2026), and ADM orders internet providers to block such sites.

You can recognise a licensed site by the ADM logo and concession number, usually in the footer, and by its domain: since November 2025 each concession covers one .it domain, which must match ADM’s official list. Crypto casinos licensed only in Curaçao or Anjouan have no Italian concession, so they sit on the illegal side of the line, whatever coins they accept.

The 2025 licensing reset

Italy rebuilt its online licensing system under Legislative Decree 41/2024, a process known as the riordino. The old concessions expired and were replaced by a smaller set of new ones:

• 52 concessions were awarded to 46 companies.
• Each concession cost €7 million and runs for nine years.
• The "skin" model is gone: each concession covers one .it domain, so the roughly 400 sites of the old regime have been cut to about one per licence.
• New accounts must be age-verified with SPID or another recognised digital identity.

The new regime went live at 07:00 on 13 November 2025 and is the one in force as of October 2026. Some familiar brands did not continue: Betway and Unibet left the Italian market in November 2025. At the Italian Gaming Expo in April 2026 ADM set out its 2025–2027 plan, including AI tools that licensed operators must use to flag risky play, such as long sessions or sudden increases in stakes, and a commitment of 0.2% of each operator’s annual gross gaming revenue, capped at €1 million, to responsible gambling. ADM estimates the illegal market at €30–35 billion a year.

Blocking of unlicensed sites

Italy was among the first countries to block illegal gambling sites, starting in 2006. Under Article 102 of Decree-Law 104/2020, ADM keeps a blacklist of unauthorised domains and orders Italian internet providers to block them; anyone trying to reach a listed site sees an ADM warning page instead. The list keeps growing as operators open mirror sites: on 5 August 2026 alone ADM added 190 domains, which providers had to block by 20 August 2026.

Blocking is only one part of enforcement. ADM also works with the police, the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza on checks of betting shops, top-up points and venues with gaming machines, where illegal betting often surfaces. A joint operation in May 2025 covered 618 locations, uncovered 22 illegal betting centres and led to fines of more than €5.7 million. ADM says it plans to double inspections of online and physical operators under its 2025–2027 plan and to hire around 2,400 new staff, and it estimates that the illegal market costs the state more than €1 billion a year in lost tax.

We do not explain ways round the blocks. Article 4 of Law 401/1989 also provides penalties for taking part in unauthorised gambling, as ADM recalled in a February 2024 statement, and winnings from an unlicensed site have no protection: if the operator refuses a withdrawal there is no Italian authority you can turn to.

The Decreto Dignità advertising ban

Article 9 of Decree-Law 87 of 12 July 2018, the "Decreto Dignità", converted by Law 96 of 2018, bans almost all advertising of gambling for money in Italy. The ban applies to licensed ADM operators too, and it covers sponsorship, TV, radio, print, online and social media. The communications regulator AGCOM enforces it. The fine is 20% of the value of the advertising or sponsorship and at least €50,000 per violation.

AGCOM has fined publishers, platforms and individual content creators, including a creator fined €157,000 for promoting gambling on YouTube and Twitch. Factual information about licensed operators is tolerated; promotional content is not. In June 2026 ADM confirmed that licensees may describe bonuses only factually: amount, conditions and deadlines, with no promotional tone.

As of October 2026 the ban has not been repealed. A Democratic Party bill, A.C. 3049, tabled on 29 July 2026, would make it stricter. Parts of it are also under legal challenge:

• Constitutional Court: the Lazio regional administrative court referred the fixed €50,000 minimum fine to the Constitutional Court as possibly disproportionate. The referral was published in the Official Gazette on 18 February 2026.
• EU Court of Justice, case C-421/24: asks whether a platform can be liable for partnership contracts with creators who promote gambling.
• EU Court of Justice, case C-194/25: asks whether the ban was properly notified to the European Commission, which could affect whether it can be enforced.
• AGCOM annual report, July 2026: AGCOM imposed no new fines for breaches of the ban in 2025, but said gambling advertising remains a priority and planned further checks on influencers in 2026.

How to check whether an Italian gambling site is legal

The 2025 reset makes legal sites easier to spot, because each concession now maps to a single brand and domain. Before you open an account:

• Find the ADM logo and concession number on the site, then confirm both on ADM’s list of authorised online operators.
• Check the domain. Licensees had to declare their official domain to ADM in autumn 2025, and secondary "skin" sites are no longer allowed. A lookalike domain is a warning sign.
• Expect identity checks. New accounts are verified with SPID or another recognised digital identity, and a valid Italian tax code is required. A site that skips this is not an ADM licensee; our no-KYC casino guide explains the trade-off such sites ask you to make.
• Look for the responsible-gambling tools ADM requires: personal limits, session information and a link to RUA self-exclusion.
• Ignore influencer promotions. Under the Decreto Dignità even licensed operators cannot advertise, so a creator pushing a bonus code is either breaking the ban or promoting an illegal site.

Bonus terms at licensed sites are also limited in how they can be communicated. If you want to understand wagering requirements and other conditions in general, our bonus terms guide explains them, but bonuses are not a reason to choose an unlicensed site: the extra tax and the lack of any payout protection usually outweigh them.

Licensed operators we list for Italy

The offshore crypto casinos we review do not hold ADM concessions, so we do not list any of them for Italian readers. For Italy we list only four brands that, as of October 2026, hold an ADM concession according to the concession list reported by Calcio e Finanza (updated 22 September 2026):

Our reviews cover each brand internationally; in Italy only the .it site named in the concession, and its terms, apply. Stake also holds an ADM concession (no. 16017, Stake Italy S.r.l.), but only for stake.it, which does not accept crypto. The stake.com site we review is not licensed in Italy, so we do not list Stake here.

Because of the Decreto Dignità, we describe these operators factually and do not promote bonus offers for Italy. Always confirm a concession number on ADM’s official list before opening an account. Our Italian-language guides cover licensed betting and casino sites, whether crypto casinos are legal and payment methods at licensed sites. Our coverage page explains where we list operators.

Payments, crypto and tax on winnings

Licensed Italian operators must link every transaction to an identified player account. The usual methods are PostePay, debit and credit cards, PayPal and bank transfer, and withdrawals normally go back to the method used to deposit. As of October 2026 no ADM licensee accepts crypto: it is not an approved payment method in the legal market, so any site taking crypto from players in Italy is unlicensed. Our deposits and withdrawals guide explains the risks of sending crypto to an unlicensed site.

Operators pay the tax in the licensed market. From 1 January 2026 the tax on online sports betting rose to 24.5%, paid by the operator. As a result:

Because of the IRPEF rule, winning on an illegal site can cost more in tax than the same win at a licensed one, before counting the risk of not being paid at all. Ask a commercialista if you have a large win to declare. For background on how game maths affects long-run results, see our RTP guide.

Self-exclusion and help in Italy

Italy runs a national self-exclusion register for online gambling, ADM’s RUA (Registro Unico delle Autoesclusioni). You sign in with SPID and can exclude yourself from every ADM-licensed site at once for 30, 60 or 90 days or indefinitely. Since 31 January–1 February 2026 you can also self-exclude from individual game categories only, such as casino but not betting; operators had until 14 May 2026 to comply. Licensed sites must also let you set personal deposit and time limits.

The Telefono Verde Nazionale per le problematiche legate al Gioco d’Azzardo is run by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Call 800 558 822 from Monday to Friday (except public holidays), 10:00 to 16:00, with shorter hours in summer (10:00–14:00 in 2025; check usciredalgioco.iss.it); as published by the ISS, the service is free and anonymous, for players and their families. Local addiction services (SerD) also treat gambling problems free of charge. Our responsible gambling guide and player protection page cover practical tools, and our licences guide explains why offshore licences give Italian players little protection.