A money game to fund the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). That's the idea behind Win for Italia Team, the game presented by the government in December. It is planned that 26,5% of the proceeds will be directly donated to CONI, providing a significant financial boost to Italian sport. "The new Win for Italia Team game will help fund new Olympic projects and high-level sporting activities. This is a welcome development," Luciano Buonfiglio stated in a press release published on December 30th. However, the process is generating debate on the other side of the Alps.
Make Italian sport "safe"
Funding for sport is a major challenge today, as evidenced by the difficulties encountered in France in the years following Paris 2024. Luciano Buonfiglio therefore welcomed the government's initiative to launch this game, via an amendment to the finance law, with great satisfaction. "We are living through an exceptional moment, and our victories are just the culmination of a tremendous movement. From volleyball to tennis and beyond, Italian successes are piling up. Now, all eyes are on the Milano Cortina Olympic Games, a crucial event. The government believed in us, and our greatest supporter is President Mattarella: Italian sport is safe. " he told Rai in December.
His enthusiasm, however, was not shared by everyone. Money games carry risks, and these are increasingly well-documented. Family conflicts, financial losses, over-indebtedness, addiction… The problems associated with gambling are numerous, and Italians have never gambled so much: €157 billion in 2024, a record. The growth of online gambling has exacerbated the phenomenon, as it has never been easier to play. The CONI's decision to take this direction has provoked criticism from both associations and elected officials.
A lottery, "like many CNOs"
Sport needs money, yes. But for Stefano Vaccari, a member of parliament from the Democratic Party, it cannot reasonably replenish its coffers in this way. "Tens of thousands of people suffer from gambling addiction, with devastating consequences for families, social services, and public health. This is a structural, not marginal, phenomenon that worsens with the increasing supply., he warns. Instead of investing seriously in prevention, treatment, and amateur sport, the government is choosing the easy and most cynical path: exploiting social vulnerability. It's turning gambling into a standard tool for public funding. Sport should educate, include, and contribute to well-being. Instead, it's becoming dependent on a mechanism that breeds exclusion, debt, and loneliness. »
Luca Stanzione, secretary general of the Milan Metropolitan Chamber of Labour, also criticized the project. "Sport should promote redemption, solidarity and inclusion, not exploit the vulnerability of individualshe emphasized during a press conference. The initiative of the government and the majority fuels the game, an addiction that we see daily in our relations with workers and in our services: it is a real suffering for society, a structural element of social distress that must be dealt with politically." For the time being, however, there is no indication that Win for Italia Team will be abandoned.
« Win for Italia Team is a lottery. As you know, many national teams have an agreement with their national lottery " explains CONI in an effort to defuse the controversy, believing that the criticisms stem primarily from a " political debate between the government and the opposition". The question of the legitimacy of funding through money games is not new in the world of sports. In Spain, England, and Italy, football clubs are currently prohibited from wearing jerseys sponsored by betting companies. In Belgium, authorities have even decided to ban any form of partnership between a sports club and a sports betting or online casino site starting in 2028. Meanwhile, the National Lottery remains a key partner for many National Olympic Committees, such as the Belgian Interfederal Olympic Committee. It is even the National Lottery that will finance the bonuses distributed to Belgian athletes who win medals at Milano Cortina.
