AGCOM proposes stricter test for gambling-brand news sites

Italy's communications regulator wants gambling brands to prove that their news and sports spin-offs are real businesses. On 22 October AGCOM (Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni) published delibera 234/26/CONS, which opens a public consultation on rewriting the "exclusions" section of its 2019 guidelines on the gambling advertising ban. The proposal targets what the Italian trade press calls infotainment sites: news, sport or entertainment brands that share a name with a licensed gambling operator.

This is a proposal, not a new rule. The advertising ban in article 9 of the 2018 Decreto Dignità stays exactly as it is. Interested parties have 30 days from the 22 October publication to send comments.

Why AGCOM is acting

The Decreto Dignità bans gambling advertising in Italy on any medium, including indirect advertising. Since 2019 AGCOM's guidelines have exempted the use of a brand that identifies a separate, autonomous activity alongside gambling, as long as the message is not ambiguous. In an earlier decision this year, delibera 200/26/CONS, AGCOM noted that operator brand names paired with endings such as ".live", ".sport" or ".news" can in practice work as promotion or as a way around the ban, and said it would review the guidelines.

What the proposal would require

Under the draft text, a spin-off would only count as autonomous if all of these hold:

• it runs steadily, with its own staff, resources and processes, and is not just a way of sending traffic to the gambling offer;
• it uses its own trademark, registered in classes unrelated to gambling;
• if it publishes news or editorial content, it is on Italy's communications operators register (ROC) where that applies, and has a named responsible editor, an identifiable newsroom, real and verifiable regular updates and original content;
• nowhere does it carry links, redirects, banners, promo codes, shared logins, single-account sign-ups or prize promotions that lead to the same group's gambling products.

A site that says it is not a news outlet because it is not published regularly could not use the exemption at all.

The draft also sets rules for how the spin-off looks. It could not copy the gambling brand's lettering, colours, slogan or symbol, and its own distinctive name would have to be at least as prominent as any part it shares with the gambling brand. Odds, tips, jackpots, bonuses and betting slips would be off limits. So would the operator's concession number, the logo of the customs and monopolies agency ADM, and gambling risk warnings. AGCOM says those elements are themselves a sign that a message is about gambling.

Stadiums and search ads

AGCOM proposes to look especially hard at sponsorship, billboards and LED boards in sports settings, because they sit so close to betting. The same strict assessment would apply to paid search ads bought on gambling keywords or operator brand names, and on pages of sites that offer, compare or review gambling services. A catch-all clause says the exemption never applies when, taken as a whole, the communication works as a hook for gambling. AGCOM could ask for documents on trademarks, organisation, traffic flows and money moving between the spin-off and the gambling business.

How to take part

Comments go to AGCOM by certified email (PEC). Respondents can ask for a hearing with the regulator's media services directorate, but the request must arrive at least 10 days before the consultation closes. AGCOM plans to publish the submissions in full, with names.

Italy is not alone in looking at gambling advertising. A Bulgarian draft law would ban gambling ads and end affiliate licences, a House of Lords committee has recommended a comprehensive UK ad ban, and Australia's ACMA says its coming ban on athletes and influencers in betting ads may cover influencers too.