Italy’s communications authority AGCOM has opened a public consultation lasting 30 days on guidelines covering gambling-brand infotainment sites, with the window open until 22 November. Davide Gallino, the regulator’s compliance chief, used a panel at SiGMA World in Rome to urge operators to take part and to signal that one option on the table would require brands to stand up genuinely autonomous editorial operations, including registration in the ROC and the appointment of a named responsible editor.
Gallino, who is head of AGCOM’s Compliance and Controls Unit and of its Media Services Directorate, spoke on a panel titled “Divieto di pubblicità: dal divieto a un approccio equilibrato” (“Advertising ban: from prohibition to a balanced approach”) at the event, staged at the Fiera di Roma. His remarks were reported by Italian industry outlet Agimeg.
According to Gallino, AGCOM has tackled the question of infotainment formats that link gambling brands to domain extensions such as .live and .sport, and considers the practice to constitute advertising “crowding” (affollamento pubblicitario). He said there had been a massive increase in communication by infotainment sites in recent years, which had changed the rules of the game, and pointed to the resulting ambiguity over whether such messages are genuinely advertising or stray into prohibited advertising.
One proposal set out in the consultation is to move away from infotainment taking the most varied forms and towards a more structured model, premised on autonomous conduct by the brand.
As an example of how that autonomy could be demonstrated, Gallino cited the creation of an independent editorial structure, registration in the ROC (Registro degli Operatori di Comunicazione) and the designation of a direttore responsabile. He said the measure was not intended to add bureaucracy but to map the whole communications landscape, adding that the consultation document proposes the structure be recognised as autonomous, with its own editorial line and periodicity, rather than a mere masking of gambling activity.
Speaking to Agimeg on the sidelines of the event, Gallino said some operators had already come forward and sent their contributions to the consultation. He acknowledged that the 30-day window is not very long, noting that anyone unable to send a contribution by the deadline can still present it directly at a hearing (audizione).
He also framed the exercise as being in the industry’s interest. If the guidelines were scrapped, Gallino said, only the Decreto Dignità would remain — and AGCOM is therefore seeking to limit exclusion relative to the current situation.
On implementation, Gallino drew a parallel with the regulator’s work on responsible gambling, saying that, as with those guidelines, there will be periods of dialogue and adaptation with operators on infotainment. He acknowledged that some projects were set up earlier and that planning timeframes exist.
AGCOM received a large contribution from the market on responsible gambling and expects the same on infotainment, Gallino said, describing collaboration with operators as a fundamental principle.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed under the GamblingZine editorial verification process.
Sources
- Sigma World Roma, Gallino (AGCOM) ad Agimeg: “Già ricevuto contributi da alcuni operatori in vista delle audizioni, siti di infotainment devono avere un’autonomia chiara” — Independent reporting (published 2026-11-03)
Reporting verified against the sources above; retrieval timestamps are preserved in the editorial record.