Rome, 20 October 2026: I was delighted to participate to the panel “From restriction to innovation: discussing the legacy of the advertising ban and future of communication frameworks in Italy in light of new industry guidelines” with Davide Gallino (AGCOM), Mara di Lecce (Novomatic), Manuela Longo (Snai) and moderated by Moreno Marasco (LOGiCO).
“The legacy of the gambling advertising ban presents us a complex legal framework, linked to a law stratification (from the Balduzzi Decree of 2012, to the Stability Law for 2016 up to the Online Reorder Decree of 2024) without explicit repeals, to the competence of different Authorities which never sanctioned any gambling advertising message before the gambling advertising ban entry into force, and which then led to the central role of AGCOM in implementing the prohibition rule.
As of today, there are two significant judicial cases before the EU Court of Justice: 1) the recent Google case, which recognises the direct liability of video and social media platforms for hosting gambling-related advertisements or promotional contents; 2) the pending LeoVegas case, which challenges the legitimacy of the gambling advertising ban in terms of its compliance with European regulations and principles: this case concerns not only a procedural flaw in the prohibition rule but also its lack of consistency with respect to the European Treaties’ principles of proportionality, necessity, coherence, legal certainty and operators’ legitimate expectation.
It is worth remembering how the gambling advertising ban was introduced:
-in a completely unpredictable way, through an emergency Decree by the Government;
-without carrying out any scientific research or preliminary studies to support such drastic and urgent intervention;
-without any sanctioning activity for violations of previous advertising rules; and
-while a European tender procedure was ongoing for the award of online gambling concessions, which explicitely provided for the possibility of advertising gambling activity in Italy.
Looking in perspective, what can the gambling industry do today?
Notwithstanding the gambling advertising ban, the research conducted by the FAIR foundation in collaboration with IPSOS presented last 14 October, highlighted the need to regain the trust of public opinion and opinion leaders. Responsible gaming communication gives the concessionaires a unique opportunity to work on the image and perception of the gambling industry.”