Australia’s Adstop register and gambling red-flag duty become law

Australia’s Adstop register and gambling red-flag duty become law

On 19 August 2026, the Australian Parliament passed the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill 2026. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) restates the package on its Interactive Gambling Act page: advertising restrictions across television, radio, online and sports venues; a national opt-out register for gambling advertising; tighter rules on inducements; a ban on commissions to staff or affiliates based on customer activity; stronger tools against illegal services; and changes to BetStop, the National Self-Exclusion Register.

Adstop sits beside BetStop

The new opt-out register is referred to as Adstop. It is a way for people in Australia to ask not to see online wagering ads. BetStop already lets a person self-exclude from licensed interactive wagering accounts. The two registers do different jobs — one is advertising, the other is account access — and ACMA will administer both.

ABC reported on 19 August that Adstop is expected to take longer than four months to stand up. ACMA’s own page says most of the reforms commence on 1 January 2027 and that it will publish more information before that date. Those are two published positions, not a measured go-live on this desk.

Red flags and inducements

Licensed wagering companies will have to identify customers who show evidence of gambling harm and stop sending them betting inducements. Direct marketing of inducements is also restricted for the first 14 days after a new account is opened, and for people who left BetStop in the previous three months.

ABC’s 19 August report is explicit that the detailed criteria for the red-flag system — what counts as harm, what operators must log — will be written later through regulation. The statute creates the duty. It does not yet publish the metrics.

A separate ban stops activity-based commissions to staff or affiliates. That is a published rule for licensed Australian wagering, not a change to how Bonusjungle scores houses.

What this is not

The package is Australian federal law for licensed interactive wagering and advertising. It does not legalise online casino play in Australia, it does not set a Bonusjungle score, and it does not tell a reader how to open or keep an account.

ACMA’s June 2026 blocking note records 1,751 illegal gambling and affiliate websites referred to internet service providers since November 2019, and more than 230 illegal services leaving the Australian market since 2017. That is existing enforcement, not a new count from this bill.

Why it matters here

For the desk, this is a market-rule latch: advertising, inducements, and self-exclusion in one licensed market. Adjacent notes already on the site: [FATF’s gaming and gambling risks](/news/fatf-gambling-aml-risk-indicators) and [Frankfurt’s €5.86bn raid](/news/frankfurt-raid-586bn-illegal-stakes). Player-facing limits stay on responsible play and the small print.