Italy Market Report
Te law intended to curb problem gaming but has faced criticism for driving players toward unlicensed operators
that fall outside of regulatory oversight. Te ban has been a touchy subject for the last six years and plans to repeal have been tried and failed already. But in July last year, Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi presented a new Sports
Decree aimed at modernising and revitalising Italian sports and forms part of the PM’s broader effort to overhaul the country’s sporting system.
GAMBLING ADVERTISING As Italy’s online gambling sector changes, Italy’s sports market comes under scrutiny as lawmakers discuss reforming Italian football to permit ad- vertising again in sports stadiums. Tis comes as the government considers abolishing the ban on gambling advertising, which was set out in the so-called Dignity Decree of 2018. Italy’s first legislative action for advertising in
the gambling sector was introduced in 2012 with the Balduzzi Decree. Tis introduced a ban on advertising messages for games with cash prizes during television and radio broadcasts. It also prohibited advertising of such games in news- papers, publications, and online platforms if the adverts were to encourage gambling, fail to warn of addiction, or feature minors. In 2016, the Stability Law introduced further
restrictive provisions, mostly limiting advertising cash prize games between certain hours. Ten, in 2018, Italy became the first country in
Europe to introduce a complete ban on gambling advertising in media and sports. It saw a ban on shirt sponsorship, digital content, LED advertising, club apps, websites, TV broadcasts, and media
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tied to Italian sport and included not only football but basketball, volleyball, and even e-sports. Te law, known as the Dignity Decree (Law
no. 87), introduced the ban from January 2019 on advertising (direct and indirect) related to games or bets with cash winnings and applied to all media outlets. It also banned all gambling-related sponsorships and advertising partnerships for Italian sports organisations domestically and pro- hibited promotional content. Te only exception was the national lottery. Te ban had a huge effect on the football sector
in Italy, as more than half of the teams in the country’s top-flight division had at least one sponsorship deal with a betting company. Te move caused estimated losses of €80m to €100m annually for the Serie A league, whilst for smaller clubs, the revenue stream from such companies was irreplaceable. Te league says it weakened the competitiveness of Serie A clubs compared to the rest of Europe, as clubs were forced to make some compromises by downsizing or post- poning projects. According to Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance 2024, commercial income made
up €1bn of Serie A’s €2.9bn total revenue in 2023/24. Tis was an increase of nine per cent from 2022/23, largely driven by American-owned Serie A clubs' new sponsorship deals. Nine Italian clubs are owned or co-owned by American and Canadian shareholders, including Inter Milan. Many Serie A and Serie B clubs have pushed to
have the Dignity Decree ban reversed, arguing it has hurt their financial sustainability. Some com- panies have bypassed the restrictions by promoting their ‘infotainment’ brands instead. Betsson, for example, signed a four-year front-
of-shirt sponsorship deal with Inter Milan under its
Betsson.Sport brand. Similar strategies were implemented by other clubs, including Betway Scores (Fiorentina) and
AdmiralBet.news (Parma), whilst Bet365 Scores has partnered with five
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