On 6 February 2026, the Italian Media Regulator (AGCOM) published its decision to dismiss the sanctioning proceedings against the Australian platform Kick Streaming Pty Ltd (Kick) for the alleged breach of the gambling advertising ban under Article 9 of the Dignity Decree.
Article 9 of the Dignity Decree introduced in Italy a blanket ban on advertising gambling. That includes any form of direct or indirect commercial communication, including sponsoring. The compliance of such ban with EU laws and EU Treaty principles, such as proportionality, necessity, and coherence, is presently under scrutiny of the EU Court of Justice (case C-194/25). Compared to other European regulations, this law is extremely restrictive.
The AGCOM proceedings originated from several livestreaming videos with slot machines’ promotional or advertising content on the Kick platform. These videos were uploaded on the platform through different channels fully managed by an Italian streamer.
According to Kick’s defence, the content under dispute was published independently by the streamer, without any commercial relationship with the platform. In particular, it was highlighted that the disputed videos constituted user-generated content and that there was no promotional agreement between Kick and the streamer, thus the platform did not receive any direct economic compensation or other benefits from it. In brief, the company only made its technical infrastructure (the platform) available to the streamer, acting as mere hosting provider.
Also, Kick was not aware of the illegal gambling advertising until the receipt of the AGCOM’s notice of dispute, but once received, it immediately removed the contents and disabled the relevant channels.
Following the investigation and substantially agreeing with Kick’s defence, the Media Authority determined that the platform did not breach the gambling advertising ban.