Country director Fabio Angeli Bufalini frames Italy as a long bet in a market that still favors local brands.
At SBC Summit, Stake Italy country director Fabio Angeli Bufalini said the 2025 online tender cut licensed domains from about 300 to 52 across 46 operators, with stricter registration and deposit rules due from November 2026.
Stake reports roughly 0.3% official market share after less than a year — it went live in December 2025. Bufalini argued that advertising limits leave offshore brands louder on social media while licensees cannot promote bonuses. That enforcement must extend beyond domain blocks to payments and platform reach.
Italy remains one of Europe’s largest regulated online markets. Bufalini put the wider gaming economy at about €21B and online at about €6B. Stake’s €7M licence fee and compliance spend buy a seat at that table. Sisal, Lottomatica and other entrenched names still dominate search demand.
Blask data shows that in September 2026, onshore operators held 92.2% of BAP and 90.3% of CEB. Offshore brands still took 7.8% of search and 9.7% of CEB in the same month.
The top five by BAP are long-established domestic and global brands. Bufalini’s cited 0.3% share runs more than double the 0.1% BAP Blask records for Stake in the same month.
Search demand for Stake has climbed from a low base since launch, with a clearer lift through mid-2026. At that scale, share moves in tenths of a point while the top five still account for most player attention.