Italy’s gambling sector faces UIF scrutiny over AML risks at PVRs
Suspicious transaction reports returned to growth in 2025, and the gambling sector remains among the areas most closely monitored by Italy’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF). The issue concerns not only the number of reports but also the quality of controls and the role of the land-based network linked to online gambling.
Among the most sensitive areas are the Top-up Points (Punti Vendita Ricariche – PVRs), which are the outlets where transactions linked to online gambling accounts can be carried out. It is here that the link between the local area, cash, vouchers, and digital platforms becomes particularly sensitive from an anti-money-laundering perspective.
UIF attention on gambling sector grows in 2025
In 2025, the UIF received 162,059 suspicious transaction reports, up 11.5 per cent from 145,401 in 2024. The gambling sector also recorded significant growth. According to the UIF Annual Report for 2025, gambling service providers submitted 10,817 reports, equal to 6.7 per cent of the total. In 2024, there were 9,547, an increase of 13.3 per cent.
Signs of continued growth had already emerged from data for the first half of 2025. According to UIF statistics on suspicious transaction reports for the first half of 2025, the total number of reports was 80,930, up 15.6 per cent from the same period the previous year. Among the entities contributing to the increase, the UIF also identified operators in the gaming and betting sector.
Why PVRs are under observation
PVRs serve as a key operational link in the remote gambling sector. Through these physical points, users can carry out activities connected to online gambling accounts, particularly account opening and top-ups.
Their role was defined within the reorganisation of remote gambling launched under Legislative Decree No. 41 of 25 March 2024. The Customs and Monopolies Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli – ADM) established the PVR Register pursuant to Article 13 of the decree. The ADM FAQs on PVRs clarify that these retail outlets carry out top-up activities for gambling accounts linked to remote gambling concessions and are required to identify the person requesting the transaction.
This requirement is particularly significant: if the retail outlet identifies the customer and manages top-up transactions, the information collected locally also becomes relevant for anti-money laundering controls.
Critical issues identified by the UIF
In its Annual Report, the UIF refers to the use of cash top-ups and similar instruments, such as vouchers and in-shop payments, to fund gambling accounts. The risk is that these instruments make financial flows less transparent, especially when they are not accompanied by adequate controls.
The UIF also reports shortcomings in monitoring compliance with cash transaction limits, an issue linked to the anti-money laundering framework set out in Legislative Decree 231/2007. The decree regulates, among other aspects, customer due diligence, record-keeping, and suspicious transaction reporting obligations.
For gambling operators, the issue is not limited to an individual top-up. The UIF highlights the need to detect split transactions, volumes inconsistent with the customer’s profile, anomalous activity on gambling accounts, and unjustified links among players, accounts, and retail outlets.
Challenges within the retail network
One of the most relevant points concerns the contribution of the land-based network. According to the UIF, in some cases, information from retail outlets is not adequately integrated into the process that leads to the reporting of a suspicious transaction.
This can weaken the control system. Retail outlets can, in fact, detect elements that do not always emerge from IT data alone: repeated cash use, recurring operating methods, anomalous behaviour, and unclear relationships between the customer and the retail outlet. For this reason, the UIF calls on operators to pay greater attention when assessing risk factors. It is not enough to increase the number of reports: the quality of the information provided must improve, along with the ability to reconstruct the customer’s transactional profile.
A sector with major volumes
The authorities’ attention is also explained by the sector’s economic size. In its Annual Report, the UIF refers to ADM data for 2024: total gambling stakes reached €157.45 billion, winnings amounted to €135.87 billion, and actual player spending stood at €21.577 billion.
These figures illustrate the sector’s scale and explain why it remains sensitive from an anti-money-laundering perspective. Where such high volumes circulate, the traceability of flows and the quality of controls become decisive.
In 2025, suspicious transaction reports in the gambling sector increased, reaching 10,817. The figure reflects increased scrutiny, but the UIF is calling on operators to make a qualitative improvement. PVRs are among the most delicate nodes because they connect online gambling, the land-based network, and payment instruments, such as cash, vouchers, and in-store payments. The message emerging from official sources is that preventing money laundering in legal gambling depends not only on operators’ central systems but also on the sales network’s ability to support customer identification, monitoring, and reporting any anomalies.
This article was first published on the Italian SiGMA News Page on 19 June 2026.
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