Marco Pedroni 76 2. The field of gambling in Republican Italy Gambling has existed in Italy in a publicly controlled form since 1620, when the Republic of Genoa legalized and defined the rules of Lotto - a game whose popularity has been historically verified also in the nineteenth century, especially in Naples (see Macry 1997; 2002). The Fascist dictatorship (1925-1943), even if it overtly declared its aversion to gambling, played a role in the development of the field: casinos were tolerated, whilst the first national lottery was held in 1932 and sport betting was legalized in 1942. Nonetheless, the current characteristics of the Italian field of gambling are mainly the consequences of the legislative and economic transformations of recent decades. Accordingly, I focus my attention on the field in Republican Italy – that is, after WWII, by identifying three main phases (see Appendix for more details) in the growth of gambling industry (see tab. 1). TAB. 1. Phases of the field with main agents and industry structure. Phase Main agents Industry structure State Market Other Childhood (1946-1986) Government Sisal (1946) Restricted Adolescence (1987-2011) Government through AAMS (responsible for gambling since 1988) Sisal Lottomatica and Snai (1990) AWP concessionaires (2004) Online concessionaires (2011) Rapidly increasing Adulthood (2012-date) Government through AAMS Local administra- tions (as above) Sistema Gioco Italia (2012) Catholic Church Non-profit organi- zations Media Maximum 2.1. The long and quiet «childhood» (1946-1986) This phase symbolically began in 1946 with the launch of a popular ludic product called schedina (coupon) devised by a This is a limited preview. The full article is available here: http://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1423/76932