Google Ireland has been fined €100,000 by Italy's communications regulator Agcom for violating rules regarding gambling advertisements.

Agcom launched an investigation into Google last month to determine whether it had breached the country’s ban on gambling ads.

It ruled this week that Google had flouted the rules over ads for foreign gambling operators, which appeared in results it served up to Italian users. The regulator ruled the internet giant had permitted paid adverts for sublime-casino.com to appear in results.

Google committed to removing all gambling-related content from Italian search results in 2018 in line with the government’s Dignity Decree Act, which provided for an immediate ban on ads for gambling.