ACMA Draws the Line on Australia's 2027 Notable Person Ad Ban

What the Regulator Has Said

ACMA has published its first formal interpretive guidance on the incoming prohibition that bars 'notable people' — athletes, celebrities, and influencers — from appearing in gambling advertising. The ban takes effect on 1 January 2027, and the guidance is the regulator's attempt to pre-empt the obvious industry question: who exactly counts as 'notable'?

The answer is broader than many marketing teams may have hoped. There's no minimum social media follower threshold required for someone to fall under the ban, according to reporting from iGaming Next. That's a significant detail: it means operators and affiliates can't rely on a simple numerical cut-off to decide whether a content creator or sports personality is off-limits.

Why the Scope Question Matters

Without a follower floor, the definition of 'notable' is inherently judgmental — and that puts the compliance burden firmly on the operator. A micro-influencer who's well-known in a specific sporting or gaming community could plausibly fall under the ban even if their raw audience numbers look modest. The guidance from ACMA is meant to clarify how the regulator will interpret these edge cases, but the absence of a hard numeric rule means legal and marketing teams will need to apply a 'reasonable recognition' test rather than a quick spreadsheet check.

The categories covered — athletes, celebrities, influencers, and other prominent figures — suggest the ban is designed to capture both mainstream and niche recognition. Operators running ambassador programmes or affiliate deals with sports personalities should treat this as a signal to audit every current and pipeline relationship now, not in Q4 2026.

Operator and Affiliate Takeaways

• Audit ambassador and influencer contracts immediately. Any agreement running past 1 January 2027 that involves a recognisable public figure needs to be reviewed for compliance or exit clauses.
• Don't rely on follower counts as a safe harbour. ACMA's guidance explicitly avoids a fixed threshold, so a low-follower content creator with strong niche recognition still carries risk.
• Affiliates are in scope too. This isn't just a brand-side problem — affiliate content featuring notable people in gambling promotions falls under the same rules.
• Build a review process now. With roughly 18 months to the deadline, there's time to restructure creative strategies, but that runway shrinks fast once production cycles are factored in.

The Compliance Clock

The January 2027 deadline gives the industry more runway than some recent regulatory changes in other markets, but ACMA's decision to issue guidance early is a clear signal it intends to enforce actively from day one. Marketing teams that treat this as a 2026 problem are already behind.