AGCOM consults on stricter rules for gambling-brand spin-off activities

Italy's AGCOM has opened a 30-day public consultation on proposed changes to its guidelines on the ban on gambling advertising, set out in Annex A to resolution 234/26/CONS, according to the authority. The proposal, would set cumulative conditions under which activities using brands linked to gambling licensees could fall outside the advertising ban. The provisions are a draft and are not yet final rules.

The changes concern paragraph 7 of the guidelines adopted in 2019 to apply article 9 of the Decreto Dignità, which prohibits direct and indirect advertising of games and bets with cash winnings. AGCOM said the revision follows issues it raised in resolution 200/26/CONS about the use of licensees' distinctive signs with extensions such as ".live", ".sport" or ".news". According to AGCOM, such names can in certain circumstances take on a promotional function for gambling or serve as a means of circumventing the ban.

The proposal does not introduce an absolute ban on using brands linked to gambling operators for other activities. It sets requirements that would have to be met at the same time for the exclusion to apply. The activity would have to be carried out on a stable, continuous and habitual basis, with its own organisation, dedicated resources and independent production processes. It could not be merely ancillary or instrumental to the gambling offer, nor aimed at acquiring traffic for licensees' platforms.

The trademark would have to be specific to the further activity and registered in goods and services classes not connected to games with cash winnings. For information sites and editorial services, the entity would have to be entered in the Register of Communication Operators where the law requires it, and have an identified responsible director, an identifiable newsroom, updates at an effective and verifiable frequency, and original content. A subject that states in any form that its site or service is not a news outlet because it lacks periodicity could not benefit from the exclusion.

The exclusion would not apply where the site or service contains, in any section or function, links, redirects, banners, promotional codes or other tools that allow or facilitate access to the gambling offer of the same operator or of companies in the same group. The proposal also covers shared login credentials, registration or single-account systems, and prize promotions used to ease access to gambling platforms. It cites responsible gambling initiatives under article 15, paragraphs 2 and 3, of legislative decree 41/2024 among the incompatible links.

On visual identity, the sign used for the autonomous activity would need its own graphic treatment, without reproducing the lettering, colours, payoff, figurative symbol or other characteristic elements of the gambling brand. Where the two brands share part of their name, the component identifying the non-gambling activity would have to have size, graphic weight and colour contrast at least equal to the shared part, and could not be presented in a visually subordinate position. The communication would also have to state clearly which good or service is being promoted; displaying a brand alone, without an explicit reference to the autonomous activity, would not be enough.

Communications for autonomous activities could not include odds, predictions, jackpots, bonuses, betting slips, gambling interfaces, reward mechanisms or other elements linked to the gambling experience. The exclusion could not be invoked through communications showing the concession identification number, the institutional trademark of the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, or the warnings on gambling risks, which AGCOM considers indicators that a message relates to the cash gambling offer.

A specific part of the proposal covers sports sponsorship and advertising in venues. AGCOM plans a particularly strict assessment of communications through sponsorships, billboards, LED systems and other tools placed in sports settings, citing the close proximity between sport and betting. Even where a brand is formally used to promote an autonomous activity, the authority considers it necessary to check that the communication does not still amount to advertising for the gambling offer. A strengthened assessment is also proposed for paid digital advertising, including positioning services on keywords referring to games, bets or operator brands, and communications on sites dedicated to offering, comparing or reviewing gambling services.

The text adds a general verification clause. Even where the organisational, editorial and graphic requirements are met, the exclusion would not apply if, considering the message as a whole, the medium used, the context of distribution and the audience reached, the communication still creates an advertising link with the gambling offer. For these checks, AGCOM could ask interested parties for documentation on trademark ownership and registration, the organisation and conduct of the autonomous activity, traffic flows and economic relations with the gambling activity.

Interested operators and other parties can submit observations in the manner set by AGCOM before any approval of the changes. If confirmed in its current wording, the new framework would affect the communication strategies of licensees that use brands linked to their commercial identity for editorial, sports and entertainment initiatives. Promoting activities other than gambling would remain possible, but would depend on demonstrating effective separation at organisational, economic, editorial and visual level, and on the absence of any indirect promotional function for the gambling offer.