AGCOM opens consultation on gambling brand extensions in advertising

Italy's communications authority AGCOM has opened a public consultation on changes to the rules governing exclusions from the ban on advertising games with cash winnings. The consultation concerns the use of brands linked to gambling concessionaires to promote activities other than gambling, including through names and extensions such as ".live", ".sport" and ".news". The authority set out the consultation in delibera 234/26/CONS, adopted on 7 October 2026.

The proposal would amend paragraph 7 of the guidelines approved in 2019 for the application of article 9 of the Decreto Dignità. Interested parties have 30 days to submit observations. The review concerns an existing exclusion that allows a brand identifying gambling services to be used where it also distinguishes other activities of an autonomous character. AGCOM said it considers intervention necessary in light of problems that have emerged in the use of distinctive signs linked to concessionaires.

AGCOM referred to delibera 200/26/CONS, in which it observed that the use of brands linked to gambling operators, accompanied by extensions such as ".live", ".sport" or ".news", may in the concrete circumstances take on a promotional function or represent a way of evading the advertising ban. The reference is to communication initiatives that, while presented as activities autonomous from the gambling offer, use distinctive elements linked to concessionaires. The aim of the revision is to specify the conditions and limits within which such uses may continue to benefit from the exclusion in the guidelines.

AGCOM also referred to principles already set out by administrative case law on indirect gambling advertising, noting that article 9 of the Decreto Dignità maintains a general ban on direct and indirect promotion of games and bets with cash winnings on any means of communication. The consultation will allow operators and other interested parties to submit observations on the proposed change. The procedure is assigned to Davide Gallino, of the authority's media services and fundamental rights protection directorate.

The authority said the delibera opens public discussion without yet introducing definitive changes to the exclusions in force. The precise content of the new provisions will be the subject of the consultation procedure and the authority's subsequent assessments.