Italy’s communications authority, AGCOM, has approved final guidance designed to stop safer-gambling campaigns from becoming indirect advertising. Resolution 200/26/CONS, published on 10 August, follows the regulator’s April consultation on responsible gambling communications and applies to public gambling concessionaires, media owners, and other parties involved in producing or distributing the messages.
Italy’s Safer Gambling Campaign Rules at a Glance
- Prevention content must remain clearly dominant over an operator’s identity or branding.
- Campaigns cannot mention jackpots, bonuses, odds, winnings, or other financial incentives.
- Links, QR codes, and calls to action leading to gambling products are prohibited.
- Celebrities, influencers, and sports figures may appear only with particular caution and a clear prevention purpose.
- Short videos and similar formats are permitted only where they form part of a wider, informative campaign.
- The 2018 Dignity Decree’s general ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship remains in force.
Branding and Betting Content Face Clear Limits
Under the final supplementary guidelines, an operator may display its logo to identify the licensed concessionaire behind a campaign. However, the mark must remain marginal, while the prevention message takes visual and narrative priority. A logo that is also the name of a gambling product is not considered compatible with this setting.
Campaigns cannot contain commercial slogans, promotional taglines, betting interfaces, jackpot imagery or references to bonuses, odds and winnings. Direct or indirect invitations to gamble are also excluded.
AGCOM draws a distinction between links to gambling services and neutral player-protection pages. A campaign may direct users to information on tools such as self-exclusion or spending limits, including on an operator-owned site, provided the page contains no promotion, offers no route into the gambling area, and does not use the visit for marketing or profiling.
Celebrity Use Requires Particular Caution
The guidance stops short of imposing a blanket ban on celebrities, influencers, and current or former sports figures. Their involvement must serve a clear social purpose and cannot allow their fame to normalise gambling or turn the campaign into a brand endorsement.
AGCOM says operators should avoid personalities already connected with separate activities using the concessionaire’s brand. This creates a significant compliance consideration for marketing teams whose ambassadors also appear in sponsorships, entertainment content or other branded partnerships.
Short formats, including billboards, short videos and L-shaped television graphics, are discouraged as standalone communications because they may not provide enough space for meaningful prevention information. They can still form part of an integrated campaign that directs audiences to fuller, non-promotional resources.
Guidance Completes Italy’s Consultation Process
The measure arrives as the country’s 46 operators manage 52 licences under Italy’s restructured online gambling regime. It also forms part of a wider regulatory reset that includes the continuing reorganisation of Italy’s land-based gambling framework.
AGCOM emphasises that the act clarifies how existing statutory duties should be applied. It does not create new standalone offences or a separate penalty framework; enforcement remains tied to Article 9 of the 2018 Dignity Decree. Operators, agencies and media partners must therefore assess campaigns against both the new compliance criteria and Italy’s existing prohibition on direct and indirect gambling promotion.