The Italian communications regulator Agcom recently fined Google Ireland $118,250 for violating its Dignity Decree ban on gambling advertisements. A month-long investigation determined Google Ireland “violated the rules on advertising of games and betting” for foreign operators by allowing paid ads for sublime-casino.com to appear in Italian search-engine results.
Google was one of the first global companies to announce it would comply with Italy’s Dignity Decree. At the time, Google stated, “Starting July 16, 2018, only state lotteries with deferred drawing will be allowed to run gambling advertisements in Italy.” The Italian parliament passed the Dignity Decree in August 2018, banning nearly all forms of gambling advertising and sports sponsorships by gambling companies, to combat problem gambling in Italy. It took effect in January 2019.
In September, Agcom announced it would investigate Google Inc., Google Italy and Google Ireland Limited, for gambling ad violations. Agcom said since sublimecasino.com had paid for advertising, the search engine was “in no case” acting merely as a hosting service but “instead aimed at the direct promotion of bets and paid games.” Such activity is “expressly prohibited by national law,” as established under the Dignity Decree.
At the time, locally licensed operators correctly warned the decree would cause non-Italian gambling operators to rise in Google search rankings at the expense of licensed Italian operators.
