Flutter to withdraw Betfair Exchange, Sportsbook and Casino from Italy

Flutter Entertainment will withdraw the Betfair Exchange, Betfair Sportsbook and Betfair Casino products from Italy after regulatory changes made the exchange business commercially unviable, the company said on 30 October 2026. Flutter confirmed the move will not affect its other Italian brands—Sisal, Snaitech (Snai) and PokerStars—or employees based in Italy; it has not announced closure dates for the three Betfair products.

Why Flutter is exiting Betfair products in Italy

A company spokesperson said:

“Recent regulatory changes in Italy have made the Betfair Exchange product no longer commercially sustainable. As a result, Flutter has also decided to soon discontinue the Betfair Sportsbook and Casino product in the Italian market.”

Flutter described the affected Betfair products as a very small part of its Italian revenue. The spokesperson did not specify whether the deciding factors were liquidity, licensing costs, exchange rules or other compliance requirements.

Betfair Exchange operates as a betting exchange where customers back or lay outcomes against one another and Flutter collects commission on winning bets. That model requires sufficient customer-to-customer matching to function commercially.

Regulatory and licensing context

Italy introduced a revised online gambling framework through Legislative Decree No. 41 in March 2024. Under the new concessions regime operators must obtain separate licences for individual brands, each costing €7,000,000 and lasting up to nine years. The framework updated player protection, compliance and platform requirements and placed betting exchanges under fixed-odds betting regulation.

Flutter secured five Italian licences in September 2025 before the new concessions took effect on 13 November 2025. The company did not link specific provisions of the Legislative Decree to its decision to exit the Betfair products.

Flutter’s Italy strategy and group performance

Italy remains commercially important to Flutter through its ownership of Sisal and Snaitech. Flutter completed the Snaitech acquisition in April 2025 and has progressed integration since. As part of a cost-reduction programme, Flutter migrated Snai customers to the Sisal technology platform in April 2026; Sisal then recorded its highest market share in June 2026.

Southern Europe and Africa, which includes Italy, generated $896,000,000 in revenue in H1 2026, up 36% year-on-year, and ranked as Flutter’s third-largest region. Across the group, Q2 2026 revenue rose 3% to $4.33 billion while adjusted EBITDA fell 45% to $508,000,000. Flutter recorded a $296,000,000 net loss in Q2 2026 versus a $37,000,000 profit a year earlier. The company cited weaker US profitability, higher marketing spend and increased UK gambling taxes among the drivers of lower earnings; historical tax provisions in India and the US, plus acquisition financing and depreciation, also affected results.

Flutter announced additional cost reductions in August 2026. Dan Taylor succeeded Peter Jackson as Group CEO on 1 October 2026.

Future options in Italy

Flutter may pursue a proposed scratchcard concession if the Meloni government proceeds with a tender; potential competition for that concession includes LottoItalia, a consortium formed by Allwyn, Arianna 2001, Novomatic Italia and IGT. The Italian Finance Ministry expects €1,000,000,000 in gambling tax revenue during 2027–2028.

For regulators and operators tracking licence and compliance changes, the revised framework remains a central factor in operator strategy; see the regulation section for similar developments. The migration of Snai customers to the Sisal platform is described in Flutter's integration programme and is relevant to b2b vendors managing platform consolidation.