ACMA sets triple-lock rules for wagering adverts in Australia
Regulation2 min read
ACMA published preliminary guidance on Australia’s triple-lock exception ahead of new wagering advertising controls from 1 January 2027. Online content service providers will generally be barred from carrying such adverts unless they restrict them to eligible users with verified ages, registered accounts and an opt-out choice. The guidance covers social media, websites, messaging, online gaming and subscription or broadcast video-on-demand services.
Australia’s online content platforms will face new controls on wagering advertising from 1 January 2027, with ACMA publishing preliminary guidance on an exception that allows adverts to remain available to eligible users. Providers can use the triple-lock exception if they take reasonable steps to restrict access to eligible users.
The exception requires providers to exclude restricted users, ensure recipients use registered accounts and offer account holders an opt-out. Restricted users include people in Australia aged under 18, those whose age has not been confirmed, users not logged into registered accounts and those who have opted out, ACMA said. The rules cover social media, websites, messaging, online gaming and subscription or broadcast video-on-demand services.
The guidance identifies age verification, estimation and inference as possible approaches, and providers may use more than one independent method. Existing age-assurance methods can be used if they meet the new requirements. Providers cannot make government-issued identification the sole method and must offer a reasonable alternative.
The guidance also encompasses adverts and sponsorship or promotional material linked to licensed interactive wagering companies. Unpaid material promoting a wagering service can be covered when an operator creates or commissions it. A separate exception may apply to dedicated wagering and racing sites and apps, but not to a bookmaker’s account on another company’s social network.
ACMA said opt-out tools should be clear, simple and easy to find. A mechanism buried in lengthy policies or requiring numerous steps would be unlikely to meet the reasonable-steps standard. An opt-out should apply across a user’s account rather than to one device, and providers should remind account holders of the option at least annually.
The controls are part of reforms enacted by the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 on 26 August. The wider reforms also tighten gambling advertising restrictions across television, radio and sporting events and introduce new limits on inducements.