Back in February 2014, Italian gambling officials paid considerable attention to the idea of imposing certain restrictions related to the gambling advertisements with the aim of reducing their negative impact on the residents.
After a year of standstill, key political figures urged the Italian authorities to reconsider the restrictions and establish more strict rules for gambling ads.
Members of the third biggest political party even complied a bill intended to completely forbid the gambling advertisements. In case such proposal had come into force, the Italian gambling industry would have lost up to €80 million annually.
Although such stagnant measures were not taken, Italian officials have taken actions towards imposing restriction on the TV commercials. Their aim is implementing stricter laws related to advertising of gambling activities. They are considering to ban the broadcast of this kind of advertisements before midnight in order to protect the vulnerable part of the population.
People with knowledge on the matter commented on the upcoming changes and said that the idea for a full ban is unlikely to be materialized but the restriction of TV gambling ads before midnight is considered a quite acceptable alternative.
However, there is another side of the coin. Opponents of the gambling advertisement limitation expressed their fears that matters might be taken to court as gambling operators are going to disagree with the restrictions. In other words, upon passing stricter regulations, Italian gambling officials should be prepared for a large number of lawsuits.
Operators that are currently available on the Italian gambling market are expected to strongly disapprove of the idea of restricting their rights to advertise their products and services. Gambling regulators have been repeatedly warned that such actions would lead to serious issues as they will harm operators’ business.
Currently, TV gambling ads can be broadcast at any time, provided that they do not precede shows intended for kids.
In point of fact, Italy is not the sole European country that has made attempts towards imposing stern rules and regulations on the gambling-related ads. Apart from the ban intended to set limits for broadcasting gambling ads, Spanish gambling regulators are also to prohibit these from being displayed on mobile devices. Authorities have a few more weeks to settle down around a decision but Spanish operators are concerned about the same issue. Their business might get hurt as a result of the proposed amendments.
