Italian Gambling Regulator Clarifies Bonus Communication Rules Under Dignity Decree
Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency has issued fresh guidance to online gambling operators on how they may communicate bonuses, rewards and prizes. The warning reinforces existing restrictions overseen by the communications regulator AGCOM and aims to address queries from licensees as well as complaints from consumer associations.
The clarification arrives as Italy continues to implement its updated remote gambling licensing framework. Since November 2025 the country has operated with 52 active licences, each required to use a single master domain. That structure was designed to improve monitoring of marketing activity and eliminate skin websites.
ADM stressed that bonuses themselves remain permitted. However, any communication about them must stay strictly informational. Messaging that creates promotional emphasis, encourages participation or incentivises gambling activity is still banned.
Scope of the Dignity Decree
The rules trace back to the Dignity Decree introduced in 2019. That legislation imposed a blanket ban on gambling advertising across traditional and digital media. It also prohibited gambling sponsorships across all sports.
AGCOM enforces these provisions. ADM has reminded concessionaires that it lacks authority to interpret or amend AGCOM decisions. Licensees must therefore adhere to the communications regulator’s existing guidance and any future measures it adopts.
The latest notice draws a clear line between factual information and promotional content. Operators may describe the existence and mechanics of bonuses. They may not frame that information in ways that could be read as an invitation to gamble.
This distinction matters for day-to-day compliance. Marketing teams and compliance officers now have tighter guardrails when drafting customer emails, website copy or social media posts.
Single Domain Requirement and Monitoring
The new licensing regime’s master-domain rule gives regulators a single point of oversight. Every licensee must route consumer-facing communications through one approved web address. The measure was introduced specifically to prevent the proliferation of skin websites that previously complicated enforcement.
With clearer visibility into marketing activity, ADM can more readily identify potential breaches of AGCOM advertising requirements. The guidance reinforces the growing importance of content governance under the revamped framework.
Operators are expected to treat all bonus-related copy as subject to this heightened scrutiny. What might appear to be neutral product information can quickly cross into prohibited promotional emphasis.
Pending Review of the Dignity Decree
The intervention arrives while the future of the Dignity Decree remains under political review. In December 2025, ADM Director General Roberto Alesse argued that the advertising restrictions should eventually be revisited. He contended that the current framework has inadvertently strengthened the black market by limiting the visibility of licensed brands.
AGCOM launched a review of Italy’s gambling advertising and marketing rules, acknowledging that the existing framework lacks clarity over customer engagement and the precise boundary between informational and promotional communications.
Ministers have indicated that a broader overhaul of Italy’s gambling framework, focused first on the land-based sector, will conclude with a review of the Dignity Decree. That process is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. No legislative proposal to repeal or amend the decree has yet been tabled.
Risks of Over-Restriction and Black-Market Growth
One clear risk is that overly narrow interpretations of “purely informational” communication could leave licensed operators at a competitive disadvantage. If players cannot easily understand the terms of permitted bonuses, they may migrate toward unregulated offshore sites that face no such restrictions.
Roberto Alesse has warned that the current rules have already bolstered the black market. Licensed brands lose visibility while unlicensed operators continue to promote freely. This dynamic undermines the very consumer-protection goals the Dignity Decree was meant to advance.
Any future reform will need to balance tighter content rules with the commercial realities of a regulated market. The pending AGCOM review and the government’s planned reorganisation of land-based gambling both point toward potential movement on this front.
The Bottom Line is that Italy’s regulators are doubling down on strict separation between information and promotion while a larger policy conversation brews. Operators must treat the current guidance as the operating standard through at least the end of 2026. Those who invest in precise compliance language and robust monitoring systems will be best positioned when the eventual review of the Dignity Decree produces new rules. The inflection point is approaching. Forward-looking licensees should prepare now for a regime that may allow more responsible consumer communication without sacrificing the core protections the law was designed to deliver.
