AGCOM, Italy’s communications regulator, has proposed tighter rules on sports news websites and sponsorships linked to gambling operators, going after companies that use separate media brands to keep promoting themselves despite the country’s betting advertising ban. Resolution 234/26/CONS came out on Oct. 22 and opens a 30-day consultation on new requirements covering websites, advertising, and commercial partnerships involving gambling-related brands.
The 2018 Dignity Decree banned both direct and indirect gambling advertising in Italy, betting sponsorships in sport included. AGCOM’s 2019 implementing guidelines left a gap, though, by allowing companies to promote genuinely independent activities that happened to share a name with a gambling operator. Several betting companies responded by setting up sports news and entertainment brands with extensions like “.sport,” “.news,” and “.live,” which kept their names visible all over Italian football.
Under the new proposal, those websites would have to prove they’re real editorial businesses. A sports information service would need an identifiable newsroom, a responsible editor, original content, and regular updates, plus registration with Italy’s Register of Communication Operators where that applies. Sites calling themselves independent information services without regular publishing or a clear editorial structure would lose the advertising exemption.
AGCOM also wants to stop media sites from steering users toward gambling products run by the same company or group. Links, redirects, banners, promo codes, and shared account systems that make it easier to reach gambling services would all be banned, along with shared registration credentials and any other technical features letting customers hop between a sports news site and its sister betting platform.
Branding gets tightened too. Sports news sites couldn’t copy the lettering, colour schemes, symbols, or other visual elements identifying their associated gambling brands, and where the two businesses share part of a name, the words marking out the information service would need at least equal visual weight. Ads would also have to say what service is actually being promoted, so just putting a company name on display without explaining the separate activity wouldn’t count.
Betting odds, predictions, jackpots, bonuses, betting slips, and gambling interfaces would all be banned from ads for those independent services. Companies also couldn’t show gambling licence numbers, the Customs and Monopolies Agency’s logo, or regulatory gambling warnings in those promotions, since AGCOM treats all of them as signs of a link to gambling services.
Sports sponsorships, stadium advertising, and LED displays are set for closer scrutiny, as are paid search ads built on gambling-related keywords and advertising on sites that compare or review betting operators. When checking whether an activity qualifies for the exemption, the regulator could ask for documents on trademark ownership, editorial operations, website traffic, and the financial relationships between media businesses and gambling operators.
Italian football already carries several high-profile deals with betting-linked information brands. Betsson Sport signed a four-year agreement in 2024 to become Inter Milan’s main shirt sponsor, and Juventus brought on bet365 Scores as its official sports infotainment partner in July 2026. Both promote sports information services tied to established gambling companies, exactly the kind of arrangement AGCOM is looking at, though the regulator hasn’t found that either one breaks Italy’s advertising rules.
AGCOM had already flagged concerns about gambling-linked media brands in its August 2026 guidance, warning that extensions like “.sport” and “.news” could work as indirect gambling promotion. The new consultation would let it judge the overall effect of an ad, including its content, placement, and intended audience, even when a company ticks every formal box for running an independent business.
All of this is happening while Italy’s government weighs changes to the Dignity Decree’s ban on betting sponsorships. Sports Minister Andrea Abodi has been talking with Italian football bodies about a replacement framework, with the clubs arguing that the ban is costing them significant sponsorship revenue. No repeal has been approved, so the existing prohibition stays in force while AGCOM reviews its guidelines.
Operators, media companies, and anyone else interested have 30 days from Oct. 22 to send comments and proposed amendments by certified email, and can ask for a hearing with AGCOM as long as they apply at least ten days before the consultation closes. The regulator will go through the submissions before deciding whether to adopt the new restrictions, and no implementation date has been set.