Gambling on Inter shirts: Isn’t there a ban on advertising? The controversy
There is dismay and concern among insiders after Inter announced that they will start the next sports season with a new commercial partner who will include the name of a well-known gambling company on their shirts: Betsson Sports. This is underlined in a note by Let’s get involved campaignreported by Redattore Sociale, recalling that Betsson Sport is officially an infotainment site, but is part of the well-known Betsson Group galaxy, a gambling company that has been operating for decades in over 20 countries spread across three continents.
The association recalls the Dignity decree which, in 2018, introduced the ban on gambling sponsorship. “Now – the note explains – the last taboo has fallen: the name of a gambling company will be displayed on the shirts of what is now Italy’s top team. And it is easy to assume that it will not be the only one, given the informal green light communicated by Agcom a few weeks ago. This is a very serious step backwards in the fight against the spread of gambling disorder, which affects thousands of families in our country through over-indebtedness, usury and the crumbling of family and social relationships”.
The Dignity Decreeofficially converted into law 96/2018, has imposed a severe restriction on the forms of advertising, direct or indirect, relating to gambling. In preparation for this measure, in 2019, the Communications Authority (AGCOM) set out guidelines to limit the permitted ways of promoting gambling, including some controversial exceptions that have ended up fueling the debate on the effectiveness and enforcement of the ban itself.
To further fuel the debate are the so-called “derogations” provided for by the AGCOM guidelines, which have created a sort of gray area in which information on the odds of games and bets can be interpreted not as advertising, but as mere information content. This distinction has provided numerous online platforms with the pretext to present themselves as infotainment sites while indirectly promoting gambling.
Although there is no concrete evidence that the restrictive measures have favored the illegal gambling market, as some critics have claimed, concerns about the incidence of gambling disorder remain pressing. With over a million people in Italy affected by this problem, the link between the visibility of gamble and its social normalization is a source of intense debate. In this scenario, the agreement between Inter and Betsson Sport raises significant ethical and legal questions, especially in light of unofficial data that report gambling consumption of around 150 billion euros in 2023 alone.
While Italy seems to show a certain ambiguity in the policies to combat pathological gambling, other entities such as the English Premier League have taken clear decisions, banning the sponsorship of betting companies as main sponsors on the game shirts. This contrast highlights a fork in the policies to prevent gambling at an international level and raises questions about Italy’s future choices in terms of protecting public health and preventing pathological gambling.
The announcement of the agreement between Inter and Betsson Sports re-proposes the discussion on Gambling related advertising in Italyrevealing the complexities and challenges the country faces in balancing economic interests with the protection of the health and well-being of its citizens. By welcoming this sponsorship, Inter is not only opening a new chapter in its commercial strategy but also inviting a broader reflection on the direction Italy intends to take in the fight against pathological gambling.
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