Serie A football club S.S. Lazio and prediction market Polymarket have mutually agreed to terminate their sponsorship agreement earlier than planned after Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) added the platform to its prohibited gambling list on July 10.
The ADM’s move forces Polymarket out of its highest-profile European sponsorship. The blacklisting rendered Polymarket inaccessible to Italian users starting July 27, according to local reports, and left S.S. Lazio unable to activate the sponsorship it had signed with the prediction market platform in April.
On Tuesday, the Rome-based Serie A club announced that it had reached a mutual agreement with Polymarket to terminate the deal ahead of schedule.
Regulatory framework cited by both parties
Lazio said the termination occurred consensually and “in a spirit of mutual cooperation,” attributing the decision to “new provisions adopted by the competent authorities that have impacted the regulatory framework.”
Italy’s 2018 ban on gambling advertising and sponsorships, enacted through the “Decreto Dignità,” underlies ADM’s action against Polymarket.
Sponsorship deal falls short of its term
Lazio and Polymarket had finalized their partnership in April, under which Polymarket served as both the club’s official sponsor and its “Fan Intelligence & Digital Insight Partner.”
The agreement was valued at more than $22 million, with additional performance and activation-based bonuses.
As part of the settlement reached this week, Polymarket will pay Lazio the full amount originally contracted for the 2026/27 season, despite the deal’s early conclusion. Both parties said they intend to maintain open communication and left open the possibility of resuming a partnership should regulatory conditions change in the future.
Italy joins Spain, Czechia and France among European countries that have restricted access to the platform over gambling regulation compliance. Regulators in these jurisdictions have pointed to consumer protection and unauthorized gambling activity as grounds for the restrictions.
Italy also belongs to a nine-regulator coalition that launched a joint enforcement effort against prediction market platforms in June.
The ADM’s enforcement action arrives as the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has separately pushed the government to reconsider the country’s betting advertising restrictions. In a published report earlier this year, the FIGC urged a review of the 2018 ban, arguing that it has reduced sponsorship revenue for Italian clubs relative to other top European leagues.