The state of influencer marketing in gambling

A referral code arrives differently when it comes from somebody whose videos you watch every week. The audience already knows the voice, gets the jokes and has chosen to spend time with the person delivering the pitch. 

For gambling brands, this familiarity is the attraction. For others, it's a relationship open to scrutiny. What looks like a personal recommendation may involve an acquisition payment, a share of gambling revenue or an experience funded by the advertiser. 

The result is a channel that can mean very different things depending on the creator, product and market. Start with those distinctions, and the commercial opportunities – alongside the pressure points – become easier to understand. 

Formats and fees 

What counts as influencer marketing? 

The label covers several different things: 

• Celebrity ambassadors: recognition and endorsement from an established name. 
• Specialist creators and tipsters: access to followers interested in a particular sport or betting conversation. 
• Casino streamers: sustained entertainment built around watching somebody gamble. 
• Lifestyle creators: product promotion woven into an existing personal relationship with followers. 
• Creator-led publishers: sponsorship across programmes, personalities and communities. Barstool’s 2024 DraftKings partnership announcement provides a prominent US example. 

The format also affects how viewers interpret the pitch. An ambassador may be recognisably delivering an advertisement while a streamer presents a gambling session as entertainment. A specialist’s recommendation may sound like independent betting advice; a lifestyle creator draws on trust built through other subjects. Meanwhile, a publisher can place the promotion directly inside a familiar sports programme. Put simply, each setting changes how easily the audience recognises the commercial relationship. 

Operators use these relationships to build familiarity, explain a product or acquire customers. The campaign brief should identify which result to prioritise: reaching eligible adults may be useful for awareness, while an acquisition campaign needs evidence of new customers. Without that distinction, a video can attract plenty of views without delivering the business the operator actually paid for. 

Speaking of which… 

How are creators paid? 

The main structures are: 

• Fixed fee: payment for agreed posts, appearances or an ambassador relationship. 
• CPA: payment for a customer meeting the contract’s acquisition conditions. A registration, deposit and verified active customer are different events. 
• Revenue share: a percentage of defined revenue from referred customers, with deductions specified in the contract. 
• Hybrid: a combination of acquisition payments and revenue share, or another agreed structure. 

Revenue share deserves particular attention here. When payment rises with an operator’s defined net revenue from referred customers, a creator can benefit from those customers’ gambling losses, subject to contractual deductions. This creates a conflict audiences should understand. 

These referral-based deals are where influencer marketing overlaps with affiliate marketing. A creator paid for bringing customers to an operator can be both an influencer and an affiliate: one term describes their relationship with an audience, the other how they earn money from referrals. Checking the contract establishes which arrangement applies. 

The geographic guide 

Whether an operator can hire a creator depends on the audience’s location as well as the product being promoted. Some markets permit partnerships with conditions; others prohibit particular endorsements or the underlying gambling offer. There’s no global permission slip for creator-led gambling promotion.  

The following markets all illustrate strikingly different approaches… 

Brazil 

Influencers can’t promote fixed-odds betting to Brazilian audiences under MP 1,394 of September 2026. Article 16 prohibits promotion directed at the Brazilian public regardless of format or remuneration, so making a post unpaid doesn’t avoid the restriction.  

The measure covers sports and online-game betting; other legally authorised lottery categories are outside its overall prohibition. 

The provisional measure has legal force while remaining under congressional consideration. The practical consequence for creators is a prohibition on promoting these betting products, although the measure’s long-term fate remains contested. 

United Kingdom 

Influencer partnerships are permitted subject to advertising and gambling rules. The CAP Code prohibits gambling advertisements with strong appeal to under-18s, so operators must assess the creator’s profile and content alongside audience data. A predominantly adult following doesn't cancel out strong youth appeal. 

The restriction can also apply to AI depictions: CAP’s guidance includes an upheld 2025 case involving a recognisable synthetic Trent Alexander-Arnold. Here, it was deemed that the digital version still brought all the real footballer’s youth appeal. 

The Netherlands 

Online gambling operators can’t use influencers and streamers for promotion. Regulator KSA clarified in February 2026 that these personalities fall within its role-model prohibition and called for collaborations to end. This applies even if a creator is relatively unknown or has a mainly adult audience. Choosing a different influencer doesn’t make the partnership permissible. 

France 

Influencers may promote lawful gambling offers, but the commercial-influence law requires them to use a platform that can exclude under-18s from seeing the promotion and to switch that restriction on. Merely putting “18+” in a caption doesn’t provide technical control. Other requirements, including a gambling warning, also apply. 

There’s also a separate prohibition on using commercial influence to promote subscriptions to sports-betting tips. Advertising an authorised bookmaker can therefore be permitted with safeguards; promoting a paid betting-predictions subscription is prohibited. The distinction concerns what’s being advertised, not simply whether the creator discusses betting. Of course, online casino remains broadly outlawed in France, so all advertisement in the sector is off limits. 

Spain 

Spain previously prohibited people with public notoriety from appearing in gambling advertisements. The Supreme Court annulled that provision in 2024, removing that particular ban. Other advertising rules remained. 

In 2026, Spain's regulator DGOJ began consulting on a law reform that would address celebrities and influencers again. The consultation did not reinstate the restriction. Operators need to distinguish the rule the court removed from proposed replacements, rather than treating the old celebrity ban as unchanged law. 

Ontario 

Some influencer partnerships are possible, but Ontario’s iGaming standards prohibit active and retired athletes in promotion, except exclusively for responsible-gambling advocacy. Other influencers likely to appeal to minors are also prohibited. These restrictions concern Ontario’s market, rather than every Canadian province. 

United States 

Influencer marketing can be legal for licensed gambling operators in states that permit the relevant product, subject to federal disclosure requirements and state rules. There is no single permission covering every US market. 

For example, Massachusetts requires disclosure of paid sports-wagering endorsements and bans paying marketing partners a percentage of revenue from referred bettors. FTC rules also require sponsorship disclosure. Operators must therefore check both the target state and the deal; adding "#ad" can’t authorise promotion of an illegal service.  

Australia 

Reforms passed in August 2026 will prohibit athletes, celebrities and influencers from promoting wagering, with commencement from 1 January 2027. Promotion of illegal gambling services is already prohibited, so the future commencement date doesn’t give creators permission to advertise those services now. 

India 

Influencers can’t advertise online money games – games involving stakes in expectation of monetary winnings. Section 6 of the 2025 Act prohibits anyone from making or helping make advertisements that directly or indirectly promote these games, including through digital media. It therefore covers creator promotions, whether the game involves skill or chance. 

The framework distinguishes lawful social games and esports from prohibited money games. This isn’t a ban on all gaming creators or video-game sponsorships. 

Kenya 

Kenya’s 2026 Advertising Regulations (excluding the National Lottery) prohibit gambling advertisements that associate gambling with celebrities, use testimonials or feature former winners. These provisions rule out celebrity endorsements and testimonial-style promotions, including a creator’s account of winning. 

The regulations also require prior approval from the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) and classification by the Kenya Film Classification Board. A campaign needs to satisfy those approval requirements as well as the content restrictions. 

The cases worth knowing 

Brazil and the questions behind the endorsement 

In May 2025, Virgínia Fonseca appeared before Brazil’s parliamentary inquiry into the betting industry, known as the CPI das Bets. The influencer, who had more than 50 million Instagram followers, denied that her gambling sponsorship deals paid her according to her followers’ losses. 

The inquiry also examined wider allegations of wrongdoing. Its proposed final report recommended criminal action against Fonseca and others, but committee members eventually rejected it by four votes to three in June 2025. These recommendations therefore didn’t receive the committee’s backing, and the vote didn’t ultimately establish anyone’s guilt or innocence.

Payment arrangements weren’t the only concern about influencer promotions, however. In a separate investigation in September 2025, police in Piauí alleged that people promoting illegal gambling platforms used demonstration accounts to show fake wins and encourage followers to gamble. 

Indeed, the key concern was that viewers may mistake a sponsored or simulated performance for an ordinary customer’s experience. Operators should explain who supplies the funds, whether the creator risks personal money and whether displayed winnings can be withdrawn. These details affect what the audience can reasonably infer from a successful session. 

The broader question here is straightforward: is the audience watching an experience available to an ordinary customer? Can viewers distinguish an ordinary customer risking personal money from a simulated, sponsored performance by an individual whose financial consequences may be different. 

Jamie Mullarkey and the illegal-service problem 

Australia’s ACMA formally warned MMA fighter Jamie Mullarkey in July 2026 after finding that his 2025 Instagram content promoted an illegal offshore gambling service. His profile also referred to the sponsorship and linked to the site. 

It was ACMA’s first enforcement action against an influencer under online gambling rules. His cooperation, removal of the material and termination of the sponsorship helped explain the warning. 

No fine was imposed, but the case shows why checking only the sponsored post is insufficient: profile links can also form part of unlawful promotion. Creators and agents need to check where a service can lawfully be offered before signing the deal. 

Mia Mon and the audience evidence 

In a TikTok advertisement for Midnite, lifestyle creator Mia Mon prepared for an evening in, lighting candles and making food before playing lottery and bingo-style games on her television. A parent challenged her appeal to under-18s after their 13-year-old son saw the post. 

The UK's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) did not uphold the complaint in June 2026. It found her wider content – including food, travel and hospitality – adult-focused. It also assessed approximately 61,000 under-18 follower accounts across platforms, including an estimate for her inactive Twitch account: below CAP’s 100,000 rule of thumb for strong appeal. 

This figure was one consideration, rather than an automatic pass mark; the ASA also examined her programmes and brand partnerships. The lesson is to substantiate creator selection beyond “mostly adult followers”. 

The platform rules 

A gambling licence doesn’t automatically secure platform permission. Different policies can apply to a creator’s sponsored post and an advertisement bought through the platform’s advertising system. 

Twitch 

Twitch prohibits links and affiliate codes to sites containing slots, roulette or dice, alongside streams of listed prohibited sites. Its guidelines permit broadcasting websites focused on sports betting, fantasy sports and poker. The shorthand that Twitch has banned gambling misses distinctions that are important to campaign planning. 

For the listed prohibited sites, the restrictions also cover logos and restreamed gameplay, so removing a link is insufficient. 

YouTube 

YouTube prohibits directing viewers to gambling sites that haven’t been certified by Google, including through links or spoken directions. It also prohibits promises of guaranteed gambling returns. Operators need both the required platform certification and permission to offer the product in the audience’s market. 

Kick 

Kick permits sponsored gambling only for platforms licensed in the relevant jurisdiction. It requires affiliate-link disclosure and prohibits gambling with viewer-supplied money. A stream therefore needs checks on both licensing and how play is funded. 

TikTok 

TikTok requires gambling advertisers to complete its certification process, providing evidence of licensing and legal compliance. It limits ads to specified markets and age-appropriate audiences. Its October 2026 Brazil update prohibits ads for online gambling and gambling-information services there. 

TikTok also applies different policies to branded content and advertising. Paying a creator to publish a sponsored post is different from buying an advertisement through TikTok’s ad system. Both involve payment, but approval for one format doesn’t automatically establish permission for the other. 

Facebook and Instagram 

Meta’s advertising standards require prior written permission for online gambling advertisements and prohibit targeting under-18s. This permission concerns ads run through Meta’s advertising system. A separately sponsored creator post needs assessment under the policies that apply to that format. 

What does the evidence tell us? 

Exposure and recognition 

In the Gambling Commission’s 2025 survey of 11-17-year-olds, 16% of respondents followed gambling-related content on social or streaming platforms. Among that group, 31% reported seeing gambling advertised by influencers, creators or streamers they followed. 

Additionally, Rossi and Nairn’s research for the University of Bristol, involving more than 650 participants, found difficulty identifying gambling content marketing as advertising, particularly among younger audiences. 

Making gambling look commonplace 

A 2026 experiment by Ghent University researchers, involving 369 people aged 18-20, compared gambling and non-gambling sponsored posts from influencers and brands.  

Gambling posts raised estimates of how often a typical student gambles, without producing a general increase in social or moral acceptance. Participants also viewed gambling sponsorships as more morally inappropriate. 

Making gambling look common doesn’t necessarily make it more acceptable. 

Behaviour and harm 

In research by Wu, Abarbanel and Clark, gambling-stream viewers reported higher problem-gambling and craving measures than non-viewers. Obviously, these observational findings can’t concretely establish that watching caused those differences; people already experiencing difficulties may also be drawn to streams. It does, however, draw attention to a correlation that is worth being mindful of. 

The takeaway 

Taken together, the evidence gives good reasons to examine exposure, recognition and vulnerable viewers.  

Of course, these studies examine different outcomes, and they don’t supply a universal verdict on influencer campaigns. Nonetheless, for operators, three questions would seem to follow: who sees the promotion? Do they recognise the sales pitch? What does it suggest about gambling?

Checking age answers only part of that, especially when adults experiencing gambling problems also watch. Operators need to examine what the content communicates as well as who receives it. 

How to build a partnership that lasts 

Choose the audience before the personality 

First, confirm that the product can be promoted in the chosen market and format. Then request audience data from the creator’s platform analytics, including geography and age bands. Consider their wider public profile and previous gambling promotions. 

Ask how many underage accounts follow the creator, as well as what percentage of the audience is adult. A large account can have a small youth percentage and still reach substantial numbers of children. This helps explain why audience percentages alone can’t always settle suitability.

Nor should a creator’s home address be mistaken for the market being served: the FTC’s guidance expressly considers overseas creators whose content foreseeably reaches US consumers. 

Make the commercial relationship visible 

Establish how the creator is paid, whether they have an ownership interest and who funds any gambling shown. Disclose these connections clearly so viewers know who benefits from the recommendation. 

The FTC’s endorsement guidance explains that livestream disclosures may need repeating, and a platform’s disclosure tool may not be enough on its own. In other words, someone joining halfway through shouldn’t need to have attended the opening credits to recognise a sponsorship. 

Keep control of live and archived content 

Agree approval, correction and takedown procedures, including responsibility for clips, archived streams and subcontractors. Decide who can interrupt a live promotion and what triggers that decision. 

Keep records of what was approved and published. A disappearing story can still prompt a complaint, and a stream can acquire a second life through edited clips. The relationship needs an exit plan as well as a launch date. 

Britain’s Gambling Commission makes licensees responsible for contracted third parties, with contractual requirements covering compliance, information and termination. Hiring an agency doesn’t make the underlying responsibility disappear. 

There’s a creative negotiation here too. It’s important to agree which aspects the creator can improvise and which claims require approval. This preserves room for their normal delivery while reducing the risk of an unsupported claim being made live. 

Measure value beyond views 

Referral codes can show which customers used a creator’s link, but not whether the promotion persuaded them to sign up. Someone who already planned to join might use the code anyway. Comparing results with a similar audience not shown the promotion can help estimate the extra business it generated. 

Operators should then assess the value of those customers after creator fees, production, bonuses and other costs, excluding duplicate or fraudulent accounts. A campaign intended to build brand awareness needs different measures, such as relevant adult reach and changes in awareness. 

Returns shouldn’t be taken for granted. France’s regulator ANJ reported €5m ($5.61m) spent on influence in 2023, 55% below plan, partly attributed to restrictions and weak returns. Operators nevertheless budgeted €8.6m for 2024. These historical figures can’t establish a campaign’s current value; operators need their own results to justify increasing expenditure. 

What’s more, results should also include complaints, misleading content and exposure to prohibited audiences. After all, strong acquisition numbers don’t magically make those problems disappear. 

Where next? 

Influencer marketing gives gambling a familiar face, but familiarity can’t answer every question about the deal behind it. The useful test is whether an operator can explain who the promotion reaches, how the creator benefits and what value the partnership adds. 

Now, there’s still plenty of room for personality in influencer marketing. The rules don’t require every campaign to sound as though a solicitor has been forced at gunpoint to appear on a TikTok video. They do, however, require operators to think carefully about the product, the audience and the promises being made. Creativity begins with understanding these boundaries.