In Italy the way of playing has changed a lot. First of all we now hold the second spot in the European table for gambling, with only the United Kingdom ahead of us. In addition we hold an interesting world record: with an expenditure of ?500 per head we are the country that spends more per head of population than anywhere else in the world. This is truly gambling on a grand scale.

Just to understand the picture: what about the Lotto? This used to be the traditional mainstay for gambling in Italy. Instead in just one year in our country revenues from the Lotto have gone down by 6.2%, from nearly ?6bn 600k in 2006 to ?6bn 100k. But there is more to it: the percentage of the Lotto reduction has nearly doubled if we compare with 2003: -11% (in 2003 nearly ?7bn were spent on the Lotto). To this we must add ?62m in forgotten and by now out of date winnings left in the Lotto archives.

The same fate has struck the Superenalotto: in the last four years revenues have decreased by 6.1%, and in actual numbers from ?2bn 66k in 2003 to ?1bn 940k in 2007. In addition there are nearly ?20m in unclaimed winnings. Which games of chance are on the increase? What is certain in fact is that some games must be increasing, since more and more money is being spent on gambling in Italy. We have reached a figure of ?42.2bn in 2007, amounting to 2% of the Gross National Product. These sums fill the State's coffers: in 2007 alone ?7.1bn from gambling went straight into the tax coffers, over 7% more than in 2006. It is a fact that the revenues from gambling have increased by nearly 20% even when compared with 2006 and that this figure seems bound to grow by at least as much again by the end of this year: the 2008 forecasts indicate about ?50m. This without taking online poker into account, only authorised in the last few weeks in our country and bound to exceed all expectations. There is nothing more comfortable than to sit in your own home with the computer and play, play, play. We are looking forward to developments in this field.

In the meantime we have got to ask ourselves: which game has recorded the highest growth in the last few years? Certainly the sums spent on sport betting have risen by nearly 22% in the five years from 2003 to 2007 (from about ?4.5bn to ?5.5bn). In 2007 alone careless players have forgotten to claim nearly ?15m in winnings. In addition we have bingo. It has to be said however that there has not been such a steep rise in this game which is of Anglo-Saxon origin. During the five years 2003-2007 the amounts invested in bingo played in former cinemas have risen by 37.3% (from ?1.257bn to ?1.726bn), but during the last year and for the first time a small reduction has been recorded (-1.7%). How did this happen? One just has to go out and have a look at the halls which are often situated just beside the main bingo hall.

These are the ones with a great number of slot machines, row upon row of them: this is the booming sector for gambling in Italy, with a business that threatens to overtake Las Vegas. The figures are dizzying, not only because nowadays you can find slot machines everywhere, including bars in the most remote country villages (the exact total is not known, but it is estimated there are over 250,000 machines spread all over the country). The total amount of money that is literally thrown away in these slot machines is really frightening. These are the figures: nearly ?19bn in 2007. More remarkable are the percentages: in 2003 "only" ?367m were played. In just one year the figure had increased ten-fold. By the end of 2007 we have now arrived at a figure indicating an astronomical rise: over 5030%. It is obvious here that there are no unclaimed winnings: the coins dropping in the tray in the machine are immediately collected. The point however is just how much money is actually returned in winnings? Slot machines are subject to a fixed rate tax of 25%. In other words: the slot machine never returns more than 75% of the overall takings. This is a rate of tax that is unacceptable everywhere else, but in the case of a slot machine it becomes a necessary fee.

This figure is just below that for "scratch cards". Let us talk now about "scratch cards", those small coloured cards with amusing names and drawings of fruit, and so inexpensive: one, two, five, ten euro. One can understand how when you add up all these small amounts Italians have managed to scratch enough small cards to spend nearly ?8bn. A straight 100% rise over 2006, and 2,720.9% more than the ?282m spent in 2003. Scratch and win - everything and right away. When I say "everything", I mean "everything": in some regions in Italy the housekeeping money is gambled away on these cards. There are regions where families invest nearly 10% of their income on gambling: Sicily, Campania, Abruzzi, Sardinia. It is estimated that in Italy there are about 7-800,000 gambling addicts and twice that number (between 1.4m and 1.6m) have a gambling problem.

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