Flutter to Shut Betfair in Italy

Flutter Entertainment is closing Betfair in Italy, taking its betting exchange, sportsbook and casino out of the country. The company says recent changes to the rules set by Italy’s regulator, the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM), mean the exchange no longer pays its way.

In a formal statement issued to industry media, Flutter confirmed that recent regulatory updates enforced by Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli – ADM) rendered the Betfair Exchange product commercially unviable. Flutter clarified that Betfair represents a minor fraction of its Italian net gaming revenue and emphasized that the brand exit will not impact its primary domestic operations or local workforce.

Flutter Has Not Named the Rule

The statement doesn’t say which change did the damage, and Flutter hasn’t set a date for when Italian customers lose access. What has a date is the affiliate side. Partners were told the Italian affiliate program ends on October 31 and that promotional content had to come down by October 29.

That leaves Betfair Italy’s customers waiting. The company has not said when it will stop taking bets, how open positions on the exchange will be settled or when balances must be withdrawn.

How Italy Treats an Exchange

Italian law doesn’t ban exchanges. Legislative Decree 41 of March 25, 2024, the law that rebuilt the country’s online market, lists “scommesse a quota fissa con interazione diretta tra i giocatori” among the licensed products, meaning fixed-odds bets where players deal directly with each other. That is the exchange model. Instead of betting against a bookmaker, one customer backs an outcome and another lays it, and the operator takes a commission.

The model only works with enough people on both sides of each bet. Flutter hasn’t said whether thin Italian liquidity played a part.

A License Barely a Year Old

The timing stings. The decree charges a one-off fee of €7 million per concession, paid as €4 million on award and €3 million when the operator actually starts trading. Each concession runs for a maximum of nine years with no renewal.

Betfair was on the list of winners. ADM handed out 52 concessions to 46 operators in the 2025 tender, and Sisal, Snaitech and Betfair all made the cut. The new regime started on November 13, 2025, so Flutter decided to walk away from Betfair’s concession less than a year into it.

One Site per License

The same decree ties each concession to a single Italian website that the license holder owns and runs itself. From November 13 ADM ordered every additional “skin” site switched off, which ended about 350 of them. A group that wants several brands in Italy now needs a concession for each one.

Sisal, Snai and PokerStars Stay Put

Flutter isn’t leaving Italy. It is concentrating on the brands that earn there. Its own list of brands puts Sisal, Snai and PokerStars alongside Betfair, and the company says the first three carry on as normal.

Sisal, which Flutter bought in 2021, is the anchor. Snai came with the Snaitech deal, which closed in April 2025, and in April 2026 Snai customers were moved onto Sisal’s platform while Snai’s Poker players were folded into the PokerStars Italia network. For Italian customers who want a sportsbook with a casino, the Flutter route now runs through those brands.

A Rough Autumn for Flutter

Italy comes after two other setbacks this autumn. On September 28 the group said it had stopped sports betting and iGaming in Brazil after a provisional executive order there banned online betting. It put the hit at about $70m of 2026 revenue if the shutdown lasts the year.

On October 20 Flutter announced a restructure of its UK and Ireland business that it expects to cost up to 1,400 jobs, blaming the UK’s higher gaming taxes. Dan Taylor took over as Group CEO from Peter Jackson on October 1.

Small Revenue, Big Brand

The Italian brand exit aligns with broader global portfolio adjustments under group Chief Executive Officer Dan Taylor, who succeeded Peter Jackson on October 1, 2026.

The group recently navigated the temporary suspension of its remote operations in Brazil following Executive Provisional Measure 1,394/2026, alongside an internal corporate restructuring across its UK and Ireland division designed to mitigate increased remote gaming duty rates.

Despite localized market exits, Flutter maintains a strong global balance sheet, reporting $4.326 billion in group revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. By abandoning unviable brand concessions in ring-fenced markets, Flutter continues to concentrate capital on core omni-channel assets across its primary operating jurisdictions.