Online gambling: an end to tax breaks for sponsorship of betting news websites
In its latest excise duty decree, the government has stipulated that sponsorship expenses are not deductible for the purposes of income tax and IRAP
The summer break fell between the announcement and its implementation. We are referring to the end of tax breaks for betting sites that sponsor their news portals. This had been announced on several occasions by the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti – most recently at the start of August – and was brought into effect last Wednesday by the Minister for the Economy and Finance, who included the measure in the fuel decree.
What does the measure entail?
In Decree 153/2026, the Government has stipulated that expenditure on sponsorship (or similar types of contract) is not deductible for the purposes of income tax and IRAP.
Furthermore, the sums paid by gaming licence holders into the Fund for the Protection and Prevention of Gambling Addiction (up to 1 million per year) will be treated as entertainment expenses and, therefore, will be deductible at the minimum rate laid down by the Consolidated Income Tax Act (which is 1.5 per cent for revenue and other income up to 10 million).
Revenue yet to be analysed
The expected revenue from both measures cannot yet be calculated. This is stated in the decree’s technical report itself, which remains cautious and refers to potential positive financial effects (which will be channelled into the Fund for Structural Economic Policy Measures) but which, as a matter of prudence, have not been estimated in advance.
The political game
This has been a very ‘hot’ topic for months in political circles and beyond. It all centres on the ‘Dignity’ decree, which has been in force since 2018 and introduced restrictions on advertising by betting sites, including ‘indirect’ advertising. This latter term has left several grey areas, for example, through sports news portals linked to betting sites.
