AGCOM Italy Fines Google for Gambling Ads

The The Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM), Italy's regulator for communications, has fined Google for allegedly breaking the integrity Dignity Decree.

The Decree, introduced on 1 January 2019, forbids all forms of advertisement on gambling. While the official announcement did not include any numerical figures, the fine was €100,000 ($118,250), according to Reuters.

AGCOM has said that Google has approved a paying ad for an online casino to appear on its search pages.

In its release, the regulator said Google "has spread the paid announcement of the sublimecasino.com site that carries out gaming and betting activities with cash winnings".

AGCOM then approved the breach based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 causing "suppliers to be sanctioned of indexing services established abroad that offer services for the Italian public".

This is not the first time Google has come into contact with the regulator.

In 2018, Google decided to exclude all content pertaining to gambling from being indexed in the results of Italian searches. And AGCOM opened an inquiry into the search engine in September of this year, after a number of gambling advertisements emerged in the country's search results.