The enormous amount lost by Italians gambling. Each of them plays on average more than 3,000 euros per year
Italians lose almost 22 billion euros annually to gambling, according to a report by the largest trade union organization in Italy and a consumer protection group, ANSA informs, taken over by Agerpres.
Gambling is growing strongly at the national level: last year, revenues reached 165.34 billion euros, 5% more than in 2024.
In parallel, the losses of the players also increase, reaching 21.88 billion euros. In 2025, each Italian adult gambled an average of 3285 euros.
The most worrying growth has occurred in online games, whose revenues for the first time last year exceeded the 100 billion euro mark, 9.5% more than in 2024 or 221% above the level of 2018. There are an estimated 4.8 million active players on the Internet in Italy, and the trend is particularly serious among the youth.
The annual report titled The Black Book of Gambling is produced by the CGIL trade union confederation, the Federconsumatori association and the ISSCON Foundation research institute, now in its fourth edition and this year titled the Loser State.
From gambling, the state does not get a real net gain, because of the social and health costs it has to bear. Obviously, the players as a whole do not come out on top either. The important profits belong exclusively to the companies in the field, which increased according to the report by 165% in real terms, to 10.4 billion euros.
