Google Inc, Google Ireland Limited and Google Italy is facing further investigation by Italian authorities over displaying of gambling advertisements on the top of their page.
Italy had imposed a complete ban on all forms of gambling advertisements by passing Dignity Decree in 2018. Article 9 of the said Decree bans advertisements for foreign gambling operators that appear in Google results.
At present, Google is being investigated to ascertain whether the scope of the Article 9 of Dignity Decree would cover search results of Google that place ads for foreign gambling operators at the top of the results page.
The country has recently imposed a new additional tax on sports betting also.
AgCom, Italian Communications Authority has launched this inquiry as it believes that ‘bonus offers’ on the operator’s website amount to advertising.
EuroWeekly News revealed that in July, an Italian-licensed operator was fined €16,000 as the AgCom believed that operator was engaged in gambling advertisement. In this case, AgCom argued that ‘offer’ included ‘graphics typical of promotional communication’.
While the Communications Authority continues further investigation into this matter, demands from industry are rising for review of the law on gambling advertisement.