Liquor & Gaming New South Wales (L&GNSW) has given gambling operators a heads up that the use of social media influencers will be a key enforcement focus in 2026.

The regulator, which monitors online wagering and gaming machine advertising visible to the NSW community, will closely examine operators’ marketing and customer retention practices, including affiliate and promotional arrangements involving social media personalities.

Hospitality and Racing Deputy Secretary, Tarek Barakat, said operators would be held accountable for advertising carried out on their behalf. 

“We are putting gambling operators on notice that a key priority for us this year is examining their marketing and customer retention practices, including the use of social media personalities,” he said.

“Gambling operators should be careful about any affiliate or partnership arrangements as we are holding them responsible for the advertising of their products.

“The things we are targeting include paid and unpaid promotional partnerships with wagering operators and gaming machine operators, influencer content that normalises betting behaviour or glamorises gaming products, and in particular, the use of platforms, including podcasts, with large youth or vulnerable audiences.”

The influencer crackdown forms part of a broader 2026 regulatory agenda that also includes barriers to closing gambling accounts and VIP or loyalty programmes and other marketing practices used by casino and gaming venue operators.

The regulator is also assessing casino governance and integrity standards and concerns around alcohol-related harm hotspots in areas experiencing increasing rates of alcohol-related crime.

Barakat continued: “These practices may increase the risk of gambling harm by blurring the line between entertainment and marketing, and by exposing at‑risk groups to persuasive promotional content.

“L&GNSW will require social media content creators to demonstrate that their social media and website content complies with legal requirements.

“We also work with other responsible agencies as required to ensure people abide by the law and gambling harm is minimised.”

L&GNSW stated it will require social media content creators to demonstrate that their posts and websites comply with legal requirements, and confirmed it works with other responsible agencies where necessary to ensure compliance and minimise gambling harm.

Under the Betting and Racing Act 1998, inducements to gamble and advertising that is false, misleading or deceptive are prohibited. This includes any suggestion that winning is a definite outcome of gambling or that participation is likely to improve a person’s financial prospects. 

Companies must ensure individuals engaged for advertising purposes, including influencers, do not breach these requirements. Individuals face fines of up to $11,000, (£5,800) while companies can be fined up to $110,000.

The Gaming Machines Act 2001 also prohibits publishing advertising that draws attention to the presence of electronic gaming machines in pubs and clubs, with similar rules applying to casinos. 

Influencers filming themselves gambling at venues and posting the content on social media could therefore be in breach of the law and face penalties.

Beyond L&GNSW

Gambling is regulated on a state-by-state basis in Australia and gambling advertising reform has more recently become a key talking point throughout the country. 

Politicians are becoming increasingly frustrated with PM Anthony Albanese‘s delays in fully implementing the 31 recommendations of the Murphy report, which includes an outright ban on any gambling advertising. 

There have also been calls for Australia to create a national gambling regulator, with regulation currency a state-by-state matter. 

The Northern Territory Racing and Wagering Commission (NTRWC) is widely considered a de facto national regulator, but is often criticised by gambling reform advocates of being too close to the industry.

In an outburst on X back in October 2025, Australian politician Andrew Wilkie, a long-time advocate for reform to Australian gambling legislation, wrote:  “Gambling regulation in Aus is a national disgrace.

“The govt has ignored the Murphy report & repeatedly blocked my bill to hold gambling giants accountable. If they won’t listen to evidence, experts or the crossbench, they should at least listen to the community.”

Fines have been handed out to several operators over the last 12 months and, as far as the L&GNSW is concerned, regulations are ramping up. 

From the end of this month, for example, leisure venues in the state that have operational gaming machines will have to shut them down between 4am and 10am, ending a 20-year-old policy that allowed for varied hours of operations.

The social media influencer clampdown seems to be yet another step in what has become somewhat of a drawn out process in Australia of regulating the gambling market in an agreeable way.