Inhabitants of Varese earn well, but spend a lot on slot machines

The inhabitants of Varese Province earn a lot, but also spend a lot on slot machines: the worst result for large towns is for Gallarate. This is the new project “L’Italia delle slot” (The Italy of slot machines), created by the GEDI Group, who publish la Repubblica, La Stampa, Il Secolo XIX, 13 local newspapers, the weekly magazine l’Espresso and other magazines, and run over three national radio stations (Radio Deejay, Radio Capital, m2o) and some musical television channels.

L’Italia delle slot, data town by town

Using 2015 and 2016 data from AAMS (the Customs and Monopolies Agency), the Group created a project to analyse and compare the use of slot machines throughout the country, looking at the number of machines in Italy, the average per capita income in each town, and how much money was spent by people in one year, on this type of gambling (per capita stake). The Video Lottery Terminals (or VLTs), which accept banknotes, and which can be found in dedicated places, and Amusements With Prizes (AWPs), which only accept coins, and which can be found also in bars and tobacconist’s, were taken into consideration.

“On average, every Italian spends 6% of his annual income on slot machines (both AWPs and VLTs, black line),” the Group explained on the page dedicated to analysing the data. “We have divided the towns into four classes: towns with the lowest per capita income and the lowest per capita stake (‘they earn little and gamble little’), those with the lowest income but the highest stake (‘they earn little, but gamble a lot’), those with the highest income and the highest stake (‘they earn a lot and gamble a lot’) and finally those with the highest income and the lowest stake (‘they earn a lot but gamble little’).”

Median per capita income, €17,100

They earn little, but gamble a lot                                     They earn a lot and gamble a lot

National average 6% (collection on income)

Median of collection per capita 444.

They earn little and gamble little                                     They earn a lot and gamble little

12,000     16,000     20,000     24,000     28,000     32,000     36,000     40,000     44,000

TAXABLE INCOME PER CAPITA, 2015 (EUROS PER YEAR)

 

From this comparison, it emerges that all of the large towns in Varese Province (Varese, Busto Arsizio, Gallarate and Saronno) are in the category “they earn a lot and gamble a lot”. In Varese, the per capita stake is €1090, and in Busto Arsizio, it is €917. In Saronno, there is the lowest, with €623 (2% incidence on income), and in Gallarate, there is the highest, with €1253 (5% incidence on income).

It also emerged that there are certainly provinces in a worse situation than Varese, however, ours is still in the medium-high gambling category. In towns in Varese Province of up to 50,000 inhabitants, the per capita stake is €928. This figure is the same for the category of towns with between 50,000 and 200,000 inhabitants (including Busto Arsizio and Varese). Nearby Legnano is a surprise, coming in the top 20 Italian towns with the highest per capita stake: €1746 (about €100 less than in 2015).