Lazio end Polymarket deal amid Italy’s strict betting sponsorship ban | OneFootball

Lazio have ended their front-of-shirt deal with prediction platform Polymarket after only a few months, a collapse shaped by Italy’s hardline rules on gambling advertising.

According to Football Italia, the partnership was announced in April 2026 and was due to run until June 2028, with an option for 2029, but it did not last the season.

Polymarket was blacklisted by the Customs and Monopolies Agency, which blocked nationwide access to its site. The first block came in November 2025, was appealed, and the platform briefly reopened.

A second block followed on 27 July 2026 after the Regional Administrative Court rejected an urgent appeal. Lazio then stripped the branding from their website and online-store shirts and the parties began winding down.

The Dignity Decree, in force since January 2019, bans gambling and betting advertising across sport, including shirts, television and most digital. Polymarket said it was a prediction market, a view Lazio shared, but courts rejected it.

Licensed operators are also barred from club sponsorship, stricter than most of Europe. Clubs have used infotainment offshoots, such as Inter Milan’s Betsson.sport, Parma’s AdmiralBet.news and Lecce’s BetItalyPay, which publish content rather than odds.

Serie A has pushed since at least 2025 to ease the rules, citing losses above 100 million a year, and a 1% betting allocation has been discussed, but the ban remains. With the Premier League restricting front-of-shirt gambling from 2026-27 and Spain already banning such deals, Lazio’s split with Polymarket looks an expected by-product of Italy’s stance.

Source: Football Italia

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