ACMA sets out guidance on Australia's celebrity gambling ad ban
The regulator has published its first guidance on the country's ban on notable people in gambling advertising, with operators given under three months to adapt before the rule takes effect on 1 January 2027.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released initial guidance explaining how a forthcoming ban on using well-known figures in gambling advertising will be policed, leaving operators, broadcasters and publishers a narrow window to adjust before the rule begins.
From 1 January 2027, gambling advertisements will not be permitted to feature a notable person, regardless of whether the ad runs on broadcast media or online. Licensed interactive wagering providers will also be prohibited from striking sponsorship or participation deals with such individuals to promote wagering content within Australia.
The restriction applies broadly, covering television, radio, news websites, online gaming platforms and social media.
Legislation defines a notable person as someone who currently holds, or has previously held, status as a professional athlete, a celebrity, a social media influencer or a prominent public figure. The responsible minister retains power to widen that definition to other categories of people by determination.
Because the definition reaches people who held such status in the past, retired athletes and former influencers fall within scope as well as current ones — a group that has featured heavily in Australian wagering marketing for years.
ACMA's guidance sets out which individuals are likely to be covered and which are not, and outlines how the regulator will weigh up alleged breaches. It also addresses how liability attaches to anyone who causes or authorises a prohibited advertisement, a detail relevant to affiliates, agencies and media partners as well as operators themselves.
Exemptions are built in for dedicated racing media, including specific racing channels and programming. ACMA has indicated it may issue more detailed formal guidance on the provision later if the need arises.
The guidance arrives after pointed exchanges during the Senate's scrutiny of the legislation. At a hearing on 4 August 2026, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young pressed ACMA officials over how the notable-person clause would work, while Sportsbet told the inquiry the draft wording risked catching "anyone with an Instagram account". Sportsbet, TAB and Responsible Wagering Australia each told the inquiry they backed the government's broader reform package, while cautioning that extending the rules into a blanket advertising ban would push bettors toward unlicensed offshore operators.
ACMA has not narrowed the definition in response to that criticism. iGaming Business reported that, according to ASGAM's account of the guidance published on 19 October 2026, the 11-page document describes the broad scope as deliberate, intended to capture anyone a wagering operator might use to encourage betting through association with that person.
Compliance obligations sit with the licensed operator rather than the individual featured in an advertisement. Because a person's public status can shift, operators may need to pull an existing campaign if someone appearing in it later becomes classed as notable.
The notable-persons ban forms part of the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026, passed by parliament on 19 August 2026. The wider legislation also bans wagering ads during live sport broadcasts and inside sports venues, bars direct marketing of inducements to at-risk customers, tightens enforcement against illegal gambling operators, reinforces the BetStop national self-exclusion scheme, and targets emerging online lottery products judged harmful. All of these measures take effect on 1 January 2027, with ACMA responsible for monitoring compliance and issuing further guidance as needed.
Two related bills cleared parliament the same day: the National Self-Exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026 and the Interactive Gambling (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2026. Together they let the government recover from wagering companies the costs of promoting BetStop, enforcing the new inducement curbs and building a wagering advertising opt-out register.
With the start date confirmed, operators that have built marketing campaigns around sporting ambassadors or influencer tie-ups now face a tight deadline to review contracts and creative material before the rules take hold in the new year.