Italy Gives Its Land-Based Casinos COVID-19 Tax Break

Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s head of state, has recently signed an economic relief package to help businesses to cope with the impact of quarantine because of the COVID-19 crisis. One of the points is the tax break for operators in the gambling industry. 

Thus, the ‘Curia Italia’ package includes measures that allow different sectors of business to delay the payment of taxes until the end of May. Among them, there are land-based casinos that operate on the territory of Italy. This decision also concerns bingo operators and video lottery terminals. 

“tax break for operators in the gambling industry”

This is an important step, as casinos in different countries suffer from a retail shutdown. One of them is Playtech, as the company faced the closure of its sites in the Philippines. 

The company has stated in the press release about the closure of certain facilities: “Playtech's facility in the Philippines has been closed with traffic being redirected to other facilities. While its facilities in Riga and other locations currently remain operational, there is a risk that these facilities will need to close in the future.”

What is more, there have been conversations about canceling the prohibition on gambling advertising and sponsorship for Italy’s top football league. However, no positive decision concerning this issue has not been made yet.