Italy budget bill proposes 25% AWP and 9.6% VLT levies from 2027

The Italian Chamber of Deputies’ Article 23 of the draft 2027 budget bill would raise the prelievo erariale unico (PREU) from 1 January 2027. The rate would rise from 24% to 25% of sums played on AWP machines under Article 110(6)(a) of the TULPS, and from 8.6% to 9.6% on VLT machines under Article 110(6)(b).

The proposal would also raise the maximum AWP stake from €1 to €2 and the maximum prize from €100 to €200. The bill’s explanatory report says those limits have been unchanged since 2006. The proposed rates would replace those in Article 1(731) of Law 160/2019, but the text has not yet been enacted.

A lower rate for qualifying AWP

The increase is not uniform. From 1 January 2027, AWP machines programmed to ensure a payout percentage of at least 70% would receive a 20% PREU rate instead of the new 25% standard rate. The reduction would apply for the periods in which the machines are in operation, pending their replacement with machines that allow play only from a remote environment.

For operators and concessionaires, the provision therefore creates a machine-level tax distinction:

- AWP below the 70% programming threshold would face 25%;
- qualifying AWP would face 20%;
- VLT would face 9.6%.

The qualifying AWP rate is five percentage points below the proposed standard AWP rate, and four points below the existing 24% rate. The text ties the reduction to the machine’s programming and payout percentage.

The bill says the lower rate is intended to preserve state revenue and the value of concessions, counter illegal gambling and maintain balanced competition between public-gaming concessionaires. Atlas reads this as a transition mechanism: the government would increase the ordinary levy while preserving a fiscal incentive for a defined class of AWP during the move towards remote-only play. Article 23 does not set a date by which that replacement must occur.

The first paragraph changes the maximum stake and prize only for AWP. It does not alter the levy rates, and the second paragraph applies the new PREU rates to both AWP and VLT.

The bill’s parliamentary status

The measure is part of the government’s 2027 budget legislation covering the 2027 to 2029 planning period. The Chamber’s procedural entry shows that, after the budget text was split on 4 November 2026, the resulting C.3174-bis was assigned on the same day to Commission V, Budget and Treasury, for lead examination. It remains an ordinary bill in first reading.