Influencer marketing under tighter rules: a compliance-first playbook

On 19 October 2026, Australia’s media regulator published its first guidance on a rule that, from 1 January 2027, bars wagering ads from featuring any “notable person”. There is no minimum follower count: the regulator’s own example is an esports creator with fewer than 10,000 followers who could still qualify. Earlier this month, Denmark tabled a bill that would put influencers and affiliates under the same advertising rules as operators. Creator marketing is still one of the most effective acquisition channels in iGaming, but the rules around it are shifting from soft guidance to direct operator liability, one market at a time.

The scenario

In Australia, the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 passed parliament on 19 August 2026, and all its measures start on 1 January 2027. The ACMA guidance released this week describes the definition of a notable person as “purposefully broad”: current or former athletes, celebrities, social media influencers and other prominent individuals, across TV, radio, news websites, online games and social media. Recognition within a niche community can be enough. The obligation sits with the licensed wagering provider, even when an agency produced the content, and operators must withdraw ads if someone becomes notable during a campaign. Each new publication can count as a separate contravention. Earlier in the year, Liquor & Gaming NSW had already named influencer marketing a 2026 enforcement priority, with fines of up to AU$110,000 for operators and AU$11,000 for influencers.

In Denmark, the bill presented on 8 October 2026 goes to first reading on 22 October, with a target start date of 1 January 2027. It would bar anyone under 25 from appearing in gambling marketing, extend operator advertising rules to influencers and affiliates, and calculate online penalties as a share of gross gaming revenue.

In Brazil, mandatory warnings have applied since 17 July 2026. Visual warnings must take up at least 10% of the piece, and creators must label commercial content clearly, avoid any promise of easy money or income, keep warnings visible instead of hiding them in captions, and stay away from anyone under 18 in language, characters or targeting.

At industry level, the European Gaming and Betting Association asked its members in October 2025 to work only with screened influencers, apply age gating and audience checks, and use independent monitoring with fast takedown across live streams, stories, posts and videos. Platforms are moving too: in February 2026, X made gambling ineligible for promotion under its paid partnership rules.

What it means

The first shift is liability. In Australia, Denmark and Brazil, a mistake made by a creator or an agency becomes the operator’s breach. Brand safety now carries legal exposure and fines, on top of the reputational risk.

The second is that size no longer protects anyone. Many operators moved budget to micro and nano creators because they felt safer and cheaper. Under a definition that counts recognition inside a niche community, a small streamer can carry the same risk as a celebrity.

The third is that compliance becomes continuous. A contract that was compliant on signing can stop being compliant mid-campaign, and every repost or boost is a new publication. Checking a creator once, at onboarding, is no longer enough.

The fourth is fragmentation. The minimum age to appear in an ad is 25 in the Danish proposal and 18 in Brazil, Australia restricts the type of person entirely, and platforms set their own limits on top. A single global creative with one set of disclaimers will break somewhere.

For brands outside iGaming, such as fintech, trading apps, alcohol or health, this matters as well. Regulators tend to reuse tools that work in one regulated category. The playbook that keeps an operator safe today is a good preview of what other restricted categories will face next.

How to react

Map the rules per market before casting. Build a short guardrail sheet for each country in the campaign: age limits, mandatory warnings, banned claims, platform policies and who carries liability. Cast creators only after that sheet exists.
Vet creators on audience, not on follower count. Ask for audience age and location data, review past content for risky claims, and check whether the creator could be considered notable under local rules. A small account with a young audience is a bigger risk than a large one with a verified adult base.
Write compliance into the brief and the contract. Include required disclosures and warnings, the list of forbidden claims, approval steps, takedown obligations and the right to edit or remove content. Creators perform better when the limits are clear from day one.
Pre-approve every piece, including boosts and reposts. Brazil already expects each piece to be checked before publication or paid amplification, and Australia counts each publication separately. Treat a repost as new content.
Monitor live formats and status changes. Streams and stories are where most slips happen. Assign someone to watch live content, and review creators’ public profiles during long campaigns in case their status changes.
Keep an audit trail. Store briefs, approved versions, screenshots and timestamps. If a regulator asks, the operator has to show reasonable steps, and documentation is the proof.
Do not let one channel carry the whole plan. Where a market closes a format, budget needs somewhere to go. Pair creators with sponsorships, streaming, out-of-home and in-game media so a single rule change does not stop acquisition.

We manage a network of 1,000+ creators across 25+ countries, so for us these rules are part of daily operations. Every campaign starts with a guardrail sheet per market, and the creator brief carries the local warnings, age rules and forbidden claims before any script is written. Content goes through approval before it is published or boosted, live formats are monitored while they run, and every approved version is stored.

When the rules in one market tighten, we adapt the creative per country instead of running one global version, and when a format closes, we shift budget to the other channels we operate, from sponsorships and streaming to out-of-home and in-game media. That discipline is what lets compliance and performance live in the same plan: our campaigns have generated 65,000+ first-time depositors for operators across several markets.

Let’s talk

If you are planning creator campaigns for 2027 and want to know how the new rules affect your markets, let’s talk. We are happy to share how we build guardrails per country and where creators still deliver the strongest results.

Sources: AGB: ACMA guidance on notable persons · iGaming Business: ACMA issues first guidance · SBC News: Denmark gambling bill · Maringá Post: Brazil advertising rules 2026 · iGaming Expert: NSW influencer crackdown · SiGMA: EGBA influencer standards · iGaming Expert: X bans gambling from paid partnerships