• ACMA has warned social media influencers to desist from pushing illegal gambling onto users
• Stiff penalties may be imposed on people who fail to comply and direct people to unregulated gambling websites
• ACMA is trying a multi-pronged approach to stop third parties from facilitating offshore gambling

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has been actively looking to limit the reach of unregulated operators in the country, notably through a list of websites that have been served with an ISP block over the past several years.

ACMA issues a warning to social media influencers

Now, the regulator has issued a stern warning to social media influencers who ACMA deems have been promoting illegal gambling services to Australians. In a statement, the watchdog said that it expected such practices to stop, or for the parties responsible to run the risk of facing significant penalties.

ACMA has already started identifying such promotions, and the people behind them, and argued that they have appeared across various social media networks, including TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, as the most prominent, but others as well.

The regulator reminded that many of the activities promoted were outright illegal and therefore could not be subject to any form of advertisement to begin with, naming casino-style games such as blackjack and online slots, but also in-play (or live) bets on sports.

All of those activities are prohibited, ACMA said in the statement. To help clarify the situation, ACMA has given specific examples of what constitutes illegal advertising by a social media influencer.

Live streamers, for example, are also to bear the blame of promoting illegal gambling, ACMA assured, and said that including links in content that refer people to illegal gambling services is another such prohibited practice.

ACMA has also identified instances in which social media influencers have been using promotional giveaways to help build up excitement for a gambling service that they were promoting.

Non-compliant parties may face stiff penalties

The regulator has outlined the seriousness of the issue by arguing that people who breach the law could rake up civil penalties of up to AU$59,400, but even worse – by referring people to illegal gambling websites through links, a person found guilty of promoting this type of websites could incur far stiffer penalties of up to AU$2,475,000, ACMA warned.

ACMA recently went after regulated gambling services that the watchdog believed to have breached rules linked to the National Self-Exclusion Register – BetStop, which was established as a unified program to help ensure that consumers from all across Australia are protected from gambling-related harm.

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