Italian football sponsorships allowed to run until July

Gambling sponsorships of Italian football clubs can continue until July after a new official opinion was issued by the Italian communications regulator.

AGCOM chief Angelo Marcello Cardani wrote to Serie A teams on Friday clarifying specific terms of the country’s advertising ban.

While advertising deals signed before the law came into force were allowed to continue until July 2019, sponsorship was treated differently in the law and it appeared that sponsorship deals were to stop 1st January.

However Cardani said on Friday that sponsorships would also be allowed to run until July when the full ad ban comes into force.

One Italian online gaming executive described the extension as a “stay of execution”.

“It’s a slight success but everything is still going to be banned in July anyway”.

The exec said operators had run into a brick wall in its dialogue with the new government, and the industry’s best hope was that the coalition was politically precarious and could come unstuck following European elections later this year.

The coalition also imposed a sudden tax rise on the industry in December, with tax rates of 20% on online casino and bingo increasing to 25%, and the 22% tax rate on fixed-odds sports betting also rising to 24%.