Italian gambling giant Lottomatica delivered a mixed report card for the first quarter of 2026. The group's overall gambling gross income increased slightly by 2% to 1.25 billion euros, with revenue climbing 3% to 602 million euros, and adjusted EBITDA growing 7% to 236 million euros. The online segment was the core engine driving growth—contributing 264.7 million euros in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 10%, successfully offsetting the flat performance of the gambling segment and the decline in the sports betting segment due to a low retention rate. Sports betting revenue shrank from 150.4 million euros in the same period last year to 142.4 million euros, a decrease of 5%, despite total betting amounts soaring 11% to 124 million euros year-on-year. The root cause of this discrepancy lies in the first quarter's event payout results being unfavorable for the betting companies. Group Chairman and CEO Angelozi provided a clear business outlook during the earnings call—the company expects to reach the upper end of the adjusted EBITDA guidance range of 940 million to 980 million euros for the fiscal year 2026, and plans to return up to 1 billion euros to shareholders between 2026 and 2027.
Online market share climbs across the board, early signs of success in PlanetWin365 brand integration
This quarter, Lottomatica's multi-brand matrix saw its overall share in the Italian online market increase by 1.4 percentage points to 31.8%, with the online sports betting sub-market share climbing 0.7 percentage points to 32.5%, and online gambling share rising 1.9 percentage points to 32.2%. Notably, the PlanetWin365 brand, launched following the acquisition of SKS365 for 639 million euros in April 2024, has begun to show a clear recovery trajectory in market share. The overall sports betting market share of the brand has rebounded to 9%, returning to its original level before platform migration; the online gambling market share reached 5.5% in the first quarter, just half of the peak level before migration.
Forecast market characterized as an irrelevant variable in the Italian market
Facing the rapid rise of the forecast market in the US and the wave of regulatory blockades it triggered across the Atlantic, Angelozi gave a straightforward characterization during the earnings call—this is a problem that simply does not exist in Italy. As early as October 2025, Polymarket was banned in Italy, and similar actions have been taken in major European jurisdictions such as France, Germany, and Belgium. Angelozi attributes this to a deep mismatch between the product and consumers: the sports product form of the forecast market relies on single-match and pre-match betting, which is completely incompatible with the habits of Italian consumers. In his view, this market doesn't even have a patch of cultivable soil.
PASA official website continues to track the financial performance and competitive landscape evolution of European gambling giants, noting that Lottomatica's performance structure this quarter perfectly demonstrates a classic hedging strategy that stabilizes overall profits through the scale effect of the online segment and the synergistic integration of the multi-brand matrix, while sports betting income is lowered by a low retention rate.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
Original in-depth gambling channel: https://t.me/gamblingdeep
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PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
