{"id":777044539,"date":"2026-07-07T06:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777044539"},"modified":"2026-07-07T07:31:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T10:31:53","slug":"acma-warns-mma-fighter-over-illegal-gambling-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/acma-warns-mma-fighter-over-illegal-gambling-promotion","title":{"rendered":"ACMA warns MMA fighter over illegal gambling promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jamie Mullarkey has received a warning after promoting an offshore gambling operator on social media in the regulator\u2019s first enforcement action against an influencer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA<\/strong>) has issued its first warning to an influencer fo breaching Australia’s online gambling advertising laws. The regulator says mixed martial arts fighter Jamie Mullarkey<\/strong> promoted an illegal offshore gambling operator through sponsored Instagram posts last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACMA said Mullarkey’s profile included references to the sponsorship arrangement, featuring a link to the gambling website and promotional hashtags associated with the operator. Under Australia’s online gambling regulations, promoting illegal gambling services is prohibited. The restrictions cover sponsored posts, livestreams, hyperlinks directing users to illegal operators and promotional giveaways connected to unlicensed gambling services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood <\/strong>said: “Athletes and social media personalities with large online followings can have significant influence over their audiences and can encourage the use of illegal gambling services,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulated noted that Mullarkey ended the sponsorship arrangement promptly, cooperated with the investigation and quickly removed the material. It said he had accepted responsibility for his conduct and expressed genuine remorse\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Influences who advertise or publicise illegal online gambling services can face civil penalties <\/strong>of up to AU$59,400 (US$38,600). Those who facilitate access to illegal operators by providing hyperlinks or directing users to such services may be liable for penalties of up to AU$2,475,000 (US$1.6m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lidgerwood added: \u201cAll influencers need to be aware that promoting illegal online gambling sites is against the law and can result in significant penalties. The ACMA will use its full suite of regulatory tools, including these substantial civil penalties, where influencers promote or facilitate access to illegal gambling services.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> ACMA makes gambling advertising reform a key enforcement priority for 2026\u201327<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamie Mullarkey has received a warning after promoting an offshore gambling operator on social media in the regulator\u2019s first enforcement action against an influencer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":777044541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued its inaugural warning to an influencer, Jamie Mullarkey, for promoting an illegal offshore gambling operator via sponsored social media posts. This enforcement action underscores ACMA's commitment to upholding Australia's online gambling advertising laws, setting a precedent for regulatory scrutiny of influencer marketing within the iGaming sector. The case highlights significant compliance risks and potential civil penalties for individuals and entities facilitating access to unlicensed gambling services.","focusai_entities":"Jamie Mullarkey, Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, Carolyn Lidgerwood","focusai_location":"Australia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (1.0), marketing_crm (0.9), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"ACMA's Future Enforcement?","query":"What specific regulatory tools and enforcement priorities will ACMA deploy next to combat illegal offshore gambling promotion, particularly concerning other digital marketing channels beyond social media influencers?"},{"label":"Impact on Affiliate Models?","query":"How will this precedent influence the contractual agreements, compliance obligations, and risk assessment frameworks for B2B affiliate marketing partnerships within the Australian iGaming sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156],"tags":[6093,289,24844],"class_list":["post-777044539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","tag-acma","tag-australia","tag-influencers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777044539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777044549,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044539\/revisions\/777044549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777044541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777044539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777044539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777044539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}