For the period January to October 2008 takings from Superenalotto have reached the round figure of €2 billion, ahead of the takings in the whole of 2007 (€1.9 billion). The amounts paid back in winnings from January to date amount to €722 million (€250 million for the month of October alone).

In general nearly the whole of the public gaming sector is recording positive results. By the end of October overall takings will total €4 billion, lifting the figures for the first 10 months of the year to €38.5 billion. This means that by the end of 2008 the forecast €45 billion in takings will have been reached, an increase of 12% over the €42 billion last year. The comparison with 2007 is positive for nearly all gaming activities: Lotto will close the first 10 months with takings of €5.3 billion and is therefore set to go over the €6.2 billion recorded in 2007; scratch cards are so far running at about €7.6 billion and may reach €9 billion by the end of the year (against takings of €7.9 billion in 2007); newslots are running high too with takings of €17 billion for the period January to October, to reach the milestone of €20 billion by the end of the year (previous year: €18.6 billion); sporting bets are in excess of €3 billion, thus overtaking the total of €2.6 billion for the whole of 2007.

On the other hand, the decline in football pools continues: Totocalcio has had takings of €92 million in 2008, against €118 million in the same period in 2007. The same trend for "9", Totogol and Big match. Negative trends are reported for betting on horses as well: takings from racing bets and "Ippica Nazionale" (Italian Horse Racing) were €2.7 billion last year, but so far this year the total remains below €2 billion, due in part to the combined effects of the racing crisis and the strikes affecting racing.

As for tax revenues, these were around €6.5 billion in the first 10 months, against €7.2 billion for the whole of 2007.

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