Italy’s communications regulator AGCOM has launched a formal consultation on proposed guidelines for responsible gambling communications, following more than 20 stakeholder submissions calling for clarity on the limits of licensed operator engagement with consumers.
The consultation, carried out under Resolution 85/26/CONS, implements Article 15 of Legislative Decree No. 41/2024. AGCOM framed the guidelines as a bounded framework within which licensed operators can conduct responsible gambling campaigns, not an amendment to the Dignity Decree’s advertising prohibition. The framework is expected to come into force before summer 2026.
The Dignity Decree Divide
The Dignity Decree (Decree-Law No. 87/2018), enacted by the short-lived Lega-5 Star coalition, imposed a near-total ban on gambling advertising across television, radio, digital media, sports partnerships and social platforms. The restrictions extend to indirect promotion, affiliate marketing and engagement-led campaigns.
Since the ban took effect in 2019, the line between “informational” and “promotional” communication has remained unresolved for operators. Bonuses, odds boosts, VIP programmes, retention messaging, influencer activity and affiliate partnerships all sit in a contested grey zone under the existing framework.
Legislative Decree No. 41/2024 opened a specific channel for informational and awareness-raising campaigns, and AGCOM’s Resolution 85/26/CONS now attempts to define that channel precisely. The regulator has been explicit that it is working within the Dignity Decree’s terms, not around them. What it is establishing is a formal definition of what responsible gambling communication looks like, and what it cannot look like.
AGCOM is also at the centre of high-profile multi-million-euro legal disputes involving Meta, Google and YouTube, cases that Italian courts are increasingly seeking to resolve. Its tightening interpretation of any communication capable of indirectly incentivising gambling participation runs through those disputes as much as through this consultation.
What the Draft Guidelines Cover
Early details from the resolution indicate that AGCOM intends to restrict what can appear within responsible gambling communications. The draft proposes limiting the use of professional footballers in such campaigns, restricting operator branding to a signature function rather than a promotional one, and setting technical standards on font size, legibility and the ratio of responsible gambling messaging to brand visibility.
AGCOM’s position is that short formats, including billboards, short-form video and L-shapes, are inadequate to convey an anti-gambling message. The regulator has indicated a preference for audiovisual formats that can meaningfully illustrate the risks associated with gambling.
Under the framework established by Legislative Decree No. 41/2024, licensed operators are already required to allocate a portion of their annual budget to responsible gambling initiatives. The AGCOM consultation adds specific technical rules to those existing obligations. Operators, broadcasters and consumers have been invited to submit feedback during the one-month consultation window.
AGCOM updated guidance for social media influencers and published new documents on commercial gambling communications over the past year. Resolution 85/26/CONS builds directly on that work, with the regulator describing gambling promotion as “still absolutely forbidden” while attempting to carve out a defined space for compliant responsible gambling activity.
ADM Enforcement
Alongside AGCOM’s communications review, Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) continues to intensify online enforcement. ADM added a further 146 domains to its blacklist of unauthorised gambling websites this week, taking the total blocked in 2026 to more than 500. Since the Dignity Decree took effect in 2019, Italian authorities have blocked over 12,000 illegal gambling portals.
ADM operates a daily-updated blacklist backed by DNS blocking, IP and URL filtering, and monitoring of VPN and proxy traffic. Payment service providers cannot process transactions to unlicensed operators, with financial institutions required to block and report suspicious activity. Italy launched a digital firewall initiative in 2025, developed with state-owned technology hub SOGEI, to block illegal gambling domains automatically on public internet devices.
Despite continued enforcement, the scale of Italy’s black market remains significant. The European Gaming and Betting Association estimated Italy faced approximately 1 billion euros in illegal gambling activity in 2023. The new online licensing regime that came into force in late 2025 reduced the operator pool to 52 active permits at 7 million euros per licence, concentrating the regulated market while enforcement pressure on unlicensed operators continues to build.
Wider Reform Pressure
AGCOM’s consultation arrives against a shifting political backdrop. The Dignity Decree has faced sustained pressure from football clubs, federations and industry groups who point to 100 to 150 million euros in estimated annual sponsorship losses for Serie A clubs since 2019.
Sports Minister Andrea Abodi has described the Dignity Decree as a “blunt populist tool” and has been tasked with negotiating a potential return of betting sponsorships in football with governing bodies and the Olympic Committee. His proposed Sports Decree includes provisions to repeal the advertising ban, with a 1% levy on sponsorship revenues earmarked for stadium development, grassroots sport and responsible gambling programmes. No formal legislative proposal has been enacted.
AGCOM has been explicit that its consultation does not touch the Dignity Decree itself. The regulator is applying a law that the government which passed it no longer holds. That tension runs through this consultation. The outcome will define the practical limits of licensed operator communications for the near term, and signal how far Italy’s regulators will push before broader legislative reform arrives.
AGCOM’s framework is expected to be finalised before summer 2026.
Source: AGCOM, ADM
