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A reduction in the growth of the Italian online gambling market in October 2019 might be due to the gambling advertising ban.
The Italian online gambling market in October 2019
According to the press, the Italian gambling market has constantly been growing, but the figures for October 2019 show that:
- online casino games grew only by 1.17% compared to the previous year, as opposed to the 10+% growth of the previous months;
- online cash poker games faced a reduction of 7.6% and
- online poker tournament encountered a flexion of 13.5%, while
- sports betting recorded an increase of 5.1%.
The impact of the gambling advertising ban on the Italian market
The Italian gambling market, in any case, grew compared to last year. But if according to commentators, the reason for this flexion of the market is due to the Italian gambling advertising ban, it should be considered that its more stringent provisions are effective from July 2019.
There was a transitional period of one year for advertising agreements already in place at the time of coming into force of the law. This year has now elapsed, and the effects of the ban on the market might still not be fully visible.
There are gaps in the Italian gambling advertising ban
We are performing a considerable amount of work in identifying how to exploit the exceptions introduced by the guidelines on the Italian gambling advertising ban. The actual scope of such exceptions shall be still tested with the regulator since there are provisions that are quite ambiguous. But there is no doubt that operators which will first identify the right approach might have considerable benefits.
The process is quite complicated since it requires to review all the agreements in place, the claims, the logos, and the contents of websites, also changing in some cases the model of business with third parties. And the results for operators shall be given by the effects on the market.
Operators shall “reinvent” themselves in some cases. And the results for operators shall be given by the effects on the market.
On the same topic, you may find interesting “Italian gambling advertising guidelines adopted, and now what?“.
