Italy slaps ban on all adverts for gambling
ITALY has become the first country in Europe to ban gambling ads after warnings the booming industry was destroying families.
The move puts pressure on Britain to act after the Mail revealed how rising numbers of children were being exposed to betting advertising.
TV, radio and internet promotions will be halted in Italy from January next year, despite opposition from betting companies. Football clubs and other sports teams will also be barred from having gambling sponsors.
Deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio introduced the clampdown as part of his ‘Dignity Decree’ aimed at curbing a dramatic rise in problem gambling in country.
He said: ‘I think this is an industry that has become a bit too big, at the expense of people’s health and dignity. We are going to cut it down in size.’
He also criticised figures such as former Italian footballing star Francesco Totti for appearing in betting adverts.
Breaking the ban will carry a minimum fine of £44,000, which will go towards a fund to treat problem gamblers.
The only exemption to the ruling will be Italy’s state- run national lottery.
Companies with existing advertising agreements have been given more time to comply with the policy.
Official figures for last year show around 400,000 Italians had a gambling problem – a four-fold increase in a decade.
Mr Di Maio, whose Five-Star Movement is the largest party in Italy’s coalition government, has said he would push for gambling advertising restrictions across the EU because of concerns about what the harmthe
‘Must cut it down to size’
ful addiction is doing to families. The British Government faces calls to curtail betting advertising after the Mail exposed how the number of gambling adverts seen by children has soared almost three- fold to more than 1.4billion a year since Tony Blair relaxed laws covering their broadcast.
Before the 2005 Gambling Act, which came into force in September 2007, the only TV advertising allowed for gambling was for football pools, bingo and the National Lottery. After deregulation, gaming companies could advertise freely after the 9pm watershed as well as before and during live sporting events.
NHS officials and gambling charities have warned that the explosion in adverts is ‘normalising’ gambling and risks hooking children.
Former footballers turned BBC pundits such as Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage have also been criticised for promoting gambling at a time when 31,000 British children are classed as ‘problem gamblers’ and 45,000 are deemed at risk.
The Italian advertising ban was greeted with horror by football clubs in Serie A, the top Italian league, more than half of which have sponsorship deals with bookmakers.
Claudio Fenucci, chief executive of Bologna, denounced the move as ‘crazy’, complaining it would cost football clubs the equivalent of £90million in sponsorship deals.
Italy’s opposition Forza Italia party claimed the only result would be to ‘humiliate’ football fans, whose teams will have less cash to spend.