This May marks the 80th anniversary of Sisal as Italy’s oldest gambling firm and the first business to pioneer betting markets, football pools and public lotteries.
Founded in 1945 by three Milan journalists of Massimo Della Pergola, Fabio Jegher and Geo Molo — Sisal was created with the ambition of launching Italy’s first football betting pool to help fund the post-war reconstruction of Italian sport.
In May 1946, the trio launched the first Schedina (football pools coupon), which would eventually evolve into the famous Totocalcio, operated by Sport Italia Società a Responsabilità Limitata.
Sisal celebrates the 80th anniversary of Italy’s original football prediction contest and the birth of Totocalcio by launching “Memorie di Carta”, a cultural initiative dedicated to restoring the historic Sport Italia publication that accompanied the first Schedina contest in 1946.
Legacy of Innovation
Hosted at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense in Milan, the event will showcase the recovery and restoration of the first six editions of Sport Italia, the official outlet of the original Totocalcio competition launched on 5 May 1946 in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
The project was developed in partnership with the Botticino Restoration School and brought together representatives from Italy’s cultural institutions, restoration bodies and gaming sector to reflect on the historical role Totocalcio played in shaping modern Italian sports culture.
Alongside iconic products such as Totip and SuperEnalotto, Totocalcio became deeply embedded within Italian popular culture and mass participation gaming.
The restoration of Sport Italia was positioned as a way of preserving not only gaming history, but also a wider documentary record of Italy’s social transformation through football, media and collective participation.
Marco Tiso, Managing Director of Sisal Italy, said: “This project clearly reflects who we are: for 80 years we have supported the country’s evolution through responsibility and innovation, transforming people’s passions into shared experiences.”
“With the restoration of Sport Italia, we aim to preserve and make accessible a cultural heritage that is part of our shared history, a concrete way to connect memory and the future.”
Tiso added: “Sport Italia represents a significant example of how we have contributed to telling the story of football and sport, helping to establish it as a phenomenon of cultural and social importance. This is the value we celebrate today: a language that gives voice to a passion and is capable of evolving in line with the transformations of sports entertainment.”
The event also highlighted the growing role of restoration and conservation projects as collaborative initiatives between private enterprise, education and cultural institutions.
Representatives from leading Italian conservation institutions also contributed to the conference, including the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the Central Institute for Restoration, the La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre, and the Central Institute for Archive and Book Pathology.
The celebration arrives during a strong commercial period for Sisal under the ownership of Flutter Entertainment. During Flutter’s Q1 2026 trading update, Sisal was highlighted as one of the standout performers within the group’s Southern Europe & Africa portfolio.
Flutter noted that Sisal has secured a 31% market share position within Italy’s newly regulated online gambling framework, introduced in November 2025, reinforcing the brand’s continued dominance across one of Europe’s most competitive regulated markets.
For Flutter, Sisal’s modern digital growth represents the latest chapter of a brand with roots intrinsically tied to the history of Italian football, betting and entertainment culture.