AGCOM , the Italian Communications Authority, has raised a a fine administrative pecuniary sanction against Google Ireland Limited “for the violation of the legislation on prohibition of advertising relating to games or bets with cash winnings, as well as gambling “.

The Authority found that Google Ireland, owner of the service Google Ads (website indexing and promotion service), has allowed , through the online advertising positioning service, “the diffusion, upon payment, of links that direct to certain sites (landing page), in violation of the rules to combat gambling disturbance “. In particular, the company, through its search engine www.google.com, has published the paid ad of the sublimecasino.com site which carries out gaming and betting activities with cash winnings.

According to AGCOM, “ the activity carried out by Google Ads, beyond the cost of the service rendered, it cannot in any case be qualified as a hosting service , given that the characterizing element of the service does not consist of “hosting “the advertising message, but rather in allowing it to be disseminated through various internet sites receiving the message. The storage activity is, in fact, entirely ancillary and technically necessary for the provision of the main service which is instead aimed at the direct promotion of bets and paid games, an activity expressly prohibited by national law “.

For these reasons i, and in light of the (EU) Regulation 2019 / 1150 which also deems the indexing service providers established in foreign countries offering services for the Italian public, the Authority sanctioned the violation. The exact amount of the fine is not known , but it is an unprecedented action – thanks to the implementation of the European regulation – against a reality that is not based in Italy.