While the Italian government has tried everything to closely monitor, oversee, and control online gambling in the country, even going so far as to suppress operators from setting up in Italy. However, online gambling had become fully legal in Italy, after even the government started setting up online gambling sites, in order to have a better insight into the entire business model. On January 1st, 2007, online gambling became fully legalized in Italy and made all illegal enterprises obsolete.

Online gambling became legal in 2007, but only in 2011 was overall gambling fully legalized in Italy. This prompted gambling operators to obtain gambling license in order to legally operate in the country.  All operators of gambling establishments, both land-based and online casinos, need to obtain the local gambling license issued by the ADM, the Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies. This license covers a wide range of games, ranging from casino and poker games, bingo, and games of chance to games of skill, sports betting, and horse racing. If the operators meet the requirements put forth by the ADM, they will be issued an operating license.

In Italy, there are currently over 200 online gambling sites available. Some 150 of those are just online casinos, while the rest of them are intended purely for bingo, poker, and other forms of gambling. Before more than a thousand licenses were issued to both domestic and foreign online gambling sites and online casinos, Italian government had been accused of blocking foreign websites. After a new law was passed, foreign operators were able to apply for licenses and offer their services to Italian players.

We've mentioned earlier that the ADM is tasked with handling all matters that concern all forms of gambling in Italy, like issuing gambling licenses to online casinos and enforcing the gambling laws within the country. If an operator violates any of the laws in place that protect Italian players as well as foreign players, there is a number of penalties, that range anywhere from trials, monetary fines, forfeitures, prison sentences, as well as other ways to dissuade illegal and unfair gambling practices.