Italy’s Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) will enforce a €100 weekly cap on cash deposits made through retail gambling voucher shops from May 2026, closing one of the largest remaining anonymous funding channels in Europe’s biggest regulated iGaming market.
The rule and what it covers
The cap applies to Punti Vendita Ricarica (PVR) outlets: tobacco shops, bars, newsstands and other retail points where Italian players top up online gambling accounts with cash vouchers. Under Legislative Decree No. 41/2024, any deposit above €100 per week at a PVR must use a traceable method. Credit cards, bank transfers and registered e-wallets such as Postepay, PayPal and Skrill remain permitted at any value. The rule does not cap total player deposits. It only limits how much can flow through untraceable cash channels each week.
The ADM has confirmed that existing account balances funded through PVRs before May will not be affected retroactively. Alongside the cap, Italian gambling voucher shops must pay an annual registration fee to remain on the official PVR register, and operator contracts with retail merchants must be updated to reflect the new reporting duties.
Operator implications across the retail network
Italian-licensed operators with large PVR distribution networks face the most immediate onboarding adjustments. Bet365, Lottomatica, Sisal and Snaitech all maintain wide retail voucher footprints across the country, particularly in southern regions where cash transactions remain culturally dominant. Those networks will need to steer players above the threshold toward card-based or digital alternatives.
Industry estimates place between 15% and 25% of current PVR transaction volume above the €100 weekly threshold, meaning a measurable portion of retail activity will migrate to digital channels or fall away entirely. PVR merchants have also been required to designate verifiable owners under national ID, and operators can no longer accept accounts opened in the name of PVR owners, merchants or their employees.
The market restructuring context
The timing lands alongside Italy’s broader concession overhaul. The ADM awarded 52 new nine-year online gambling concessions to 46 concessionaires in 2025, running from 13 November 2025. The entry fee was raised to €7 million per licence, effectively pricing out smaller operators and collapsing the previous multi-skin model.
Several established operators chose to exit rather than contest the new tender. Unibet withdrew after Kindred Group declined to renew its Italian licence, and Betclic and Giochi24 also stepped away during 2025. Those that did secure concessions are absorbing higher fixed costs while adapting to tighter payment rules, behaviour-based deposit and time limits, and updated technical certification requirements tied to the new licence agreements.
The cross-border dimension
The Italian cap sits inside a wider EU push to close retail-cash loopholes in regulated gambling. The Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), which began operations in Frankfurt on 1 July 2025 and took over all AML mandates from the European Banking Authority in January 2026, has flagged harmonised supervision of non-financial sectors as a 2026 priority. Germany, the Netherlands and Spain have each debated similar restrictions on anonymous gambling deposit methods in their own markets.
Italy’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) reported that suspicious transaction reports from the gaming sector rose 37% in the first half of 2025. The ADM has cited that trend in support of the tighter voucher regime, positioning PVR reform as an AML measure first and a player protection measure second. The broader direction is consistent with the coordinated supervision agenda set out by European regulators in Madrid late last year.
What operators face next
The ADM has ruled out further postponements beyond a limited extension until 13 November 2026 for platform certification processes under the new concessions. All other obligations, including the €100 cap, enter force on schedule. Operators have roughly one month to finalise payment-flow changes before the rule takes effect, and retail voucher shops are already revising revenue projections to reflect expected migration to digital channels.
The Italian model will be watched closely across the bloc. If the May rollout proceeds without meaningful channelisation losses to unlicensed sites, the €100 cap will likely inform similar proposals in other mature European markets as AMLA builds out its framework through 2026 and 2027.
Source: Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli
