Australia’s media regulator has published initial guidance on how online platforms can keep showing wagering ads after 1 January 2027. The so-called triple lock is an exception, not a general permission to advertise freely.
On 12 November 2026, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) published initial industry guidance on the “triple lock exception” for wagering advertising on online content services. The guidance accompanies a 23-page instruction, also dated 12 November, issued under the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026.
That Act, enacted on 26 August 2026, inserts a new Part 7C into the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. From 1 January 2027, sections 62P and 62Q will prohibit online content service providers from providing wagering advertising on their services, and from delivering such content to “restricted users”. The prohibition will not apply if the provider takes “reasonable steps” to meet three conditions. That is the triple lock.
What the triple lock requires
According to the ACMA’s announcement and the guidance, a provider that wants to keep carrying wagering advertising must take reasonable steps to:
- prevent restricted users from accessing or receiving that content;
- ensure that people who receive it are using a registered account on the service, meaning they are logged in;
- ensure that people with a registered account can opt out of receiving it.
A restricted user is defined in section 62H as an individual in Australia who is under 18, has not confirmed their age, is not using a registered account, or has opted out, either through the provider’s own opt-out tool or through a forthcoming national Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register.
The first of those three limbs also applies to the separate prohibition in section 62Q on delivering wagering advertising to restricted users.
Providers that want to rely on the exception “must have an opt-out system in place from 1 January 2027”. The ACMA says a provider that does not will not meet the exception and “will not be able to provide wagering advertising content on their service” until it meets this or another relevant exception.
The opt-out register, still to begin
The guidance distinguishes between the provider’s own opt-out tool, which must be ready on 1 January, and the national register, which has not yet started. Once the register is operating, providers will also have to take reasonable steps to make users aware of both the service-specific opt-out and the register. They will need to check, at least every 14 days or any other period set in the register rules, that the register does not contain the contact details of anyone to whom they would otherwise deliver or display wagering ads.
The ACMA is asking providers that intend to rely on the exception to notify it, “including so they can be kept directly informed about the development of the Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register”. It also intends to publish a list of providers that have implemented the triple lock, so that consumers can see which services are taking part.
The 12 November document is described as initial guidance. Formal guidance on Part 7C more generally may be issued later under section 62ZF of the Act.
How the ACMA will judge “reasonable steps”
There is no single prescribed technical standard. The ACMA says it will take a “proportionate, risk-based approach” to compliance, and that “there is no one-size-fits-all approach for what constitutes taking reasonable steps”. What is reasonable will depend on the context and may differ between providers.
The guidance expects providers to put in place systems, controls and record-keeping so that they can demonstrate compliance. Records must be kept for 12 months after the relevant wagering advertising is displayed. The ACMA may also ask for information about individual users where that is needed to show that reasonable steps were taken, including age-assurance checks, login data, use of opt-out tools and advertising impressions. Providers should be ready to explain their risk assessments, the reliability of any technology they use, how they fix problems, and why any reliance on a third party was reasonable.
Who is affected
The rules are aimed first at online content service providers: the platforms, publishers and other digital services that carry wagering ads, rather than only at the betting companies that buy them. For those platforms, the practical choice from 1 January 2027 is to implement the triple lock, rely on another exception if one applies, or stop showing wagering advertising.
For people in Australia, the change is meant to keep wagering ads away from children, from users who have not proved their age or logged in, and from anyone who has opted out. Licensed wagering operators will still be able to advertise only where a platform has met the legal tests. That is a tighter model than a general advertising ban, and tighter than rules that leave opt-out entirely to each website.
Other jurisdictions have also been tightening how gambling is promoted. Bulgaria’s cabinet this week backed a draft law for a much broader advertising ban, which we covered in our report on that proposal. Spain has separately tightened deposit and payment rules, as set out in our story on Spain’s payment checks. In Australia, the new online-advertising rules sit alongside a longer period of scrutiny of licensed operators, including the continuing supervision of The Star, which we updated in our report on The Star Sydney’s suspended licence.
What happens next
The advertising restrictions take effect on 1 January 2027. Between now and then, platforms that want to keep wagering ads will need to build age assurance, login gates and an opt-out tool, and to tell the ACMA if they intend to rely on the exception. The national opt-out register will add a further duty once it starts. The ACMA’s list of participating services, when published, will be the public sign of who has done that work.
This guidance does not itself legalise unlicensed gambling, and it does not change the fact that gambling in Australia is for adults aged 18 and over. Free and confidential support is available from Gambling Help Online.
Related Posts
