Gambling advertising rules by market in 2026: where link placements are restricted

Paid placements for casino and sports betting brands are advertising in the eyes of every regulator covered here. The same rules reach a sponsored article or an affiliate review, and in several markets the publisher who carries it. A buyer who orders where the content is restricted risks a refusal, a removal after publication, or in some countries a fine that falls on the publisher as well as the advertiser.

This reference is correct as of 28 October 2026. For each market it states the rule, its date, the primary source and the effect on link placements; proposals not yet in force are marked as such.

The position at a glance

Market	In force since	Effect on placements
United Kingdom	Strong appeal rule, 1 October 2022	Allowed for licensed operators, with content rules
Germany	GlüStV 2021, 1 July 2021	Allowed, with daypart, product and affiliate conditions
Netherlands	Untargeted advertising ban, 1 July 2023	Allowed only if targeted (95 per cent rule); sponsorship banned
Italy	Decree-Law 87/2018, 14 July 2018	Prohibited, including indirect advertising
Spain	Royal Decree 958/2020, partly annulled 2024	Allowed for licensed operators; web rules in flux
Sweden	Gambling Act (2018:1138), 1 January 2019	Allowed for licensed operators, with a moderation requirement
Brazil	Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, 25 September 2026	Prohibited while the measure stands

United Kingdom

Gambling advertising in non-broadcast media, which includes sponsored articles and affiliate pages, is governed by section 16 of the CAP Code, enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Since 1 October 2022, rule 16.3.12 has required that gambling advertisements must not be of "strong appeal" to under-18s, replacing the earlier "particular appeal" test. Operators licensed by the Gambling Commission are responsible for marketing done on their behalf, including by affiliates, under the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice.

Sponsorship is moving separately. Premier League clubs agreed in April 2023 to withdraw gambling brands from the front of matchday shirts from the end of the 2025/26 season, a voluntary measure. In February 2026 the government opened a consultation on banning sponsorship by operators not licensed in Great Britain, proposing a ban from August 2027. That is a proposal, not law.

For placements: content for licensed operators on UK publishers is permitted, provided it has no strong appeal to minors and is identifiable as marketing.

Germany

The Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021) has been in force since 1 July 2021, supervised by the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL). Under section 5, no advertising for virtual slot machines, online poker or online casino games may appear on broadcast media or the internet between 6:00 and 21:00 (section 5(3)), and for products covered by the national self-exclusion system no variable remuneration based on turnover, deposits or stakes may be agreed for advertising, which rules out the usual revenue-share affiliate model (section 5(6)). The GGL's model licence conditions permit affiliate marketing only where the affiliate site links solely to operators holding a GlüStV 2021 licence.

For placements: a German-language article promoting a licensed sportsbook is possible. Casino content is constrained by the daypart and remuneration rules and by publishers' own caution; many German publishers refuse it outright.

Netherlands

Since 1 July 2023 the Netherlands has banned untargeted advertising for online gambling under an amendment to the Besluit werving, reclame en verslavingspreventie kansspelen, announced by the regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), in May 2023. Sponsorship counts as untargeted advertising: sponsorship by online operators outside sport ended on 1 July 2024 and sports sponsorship on 1 July 2025, with no exceptions. Online advertising remains possible only where it is targeted. The operator must be able to show that at least 95 per cent of the people reached are 24 or older, and recipients must be able to opt out without first creating an account, as the Ksa's guidance of March 2026 sets out. Affiliate marketing is still allowed on the same basis, and operators remain responsible for their content on affiliate sites.

For placements: a sponsored article on a general-audience Dutch news site is, in practice, untargeted advertising and therefore prohibited for online gambling. Content reaching a demonstrably adult audience on a specialist site is the remaining route.

Italy

Article 9 of Decree-Law 87 of 12 July 2018 (the "Decreto Dignità", converted by Law 96 of 9 August 2018) prohibits any form of advertising, including indirect advertising, for games or bets with cash prizes, on any medium, from 14 July 2018. From 1 January 2019 the prohibition extended to sponsorship and every other form of promotional communication; contracts already running were allowed to expire, for at most one year. The sanction, applied by the communications regulator AGCOM, is 20 per cent of the value of the advertising or sponsorship and in any case not less than 50,000 euros per violation, and it can fall on the publisher as well as the advertiser, as AGCOM's decisions show. In 2026 AGCOM opened a consultation to revise its implementing guidelines, noting that article 9 keeps a general prohibition in place. No change to the law has been adopted.

For placements: Italian-language placements that promote casino or betting operators are prohibited, and the publisher is exposed to the fine as well as the advertiser. Purely informational content with no promotional element is the only space.

Spain

Royal Decree 958/2020 of 3 November on commercial communications for gambling restricted operators' advertising across audiovisual media, the internet and social networks. In 2024 the Supreme Court partly annulled it for lack of a sufficient legal basis in the Gambling Act (Ley 13/2011). The judgment of 2 April 2024 struck down articles 13(1) and 13(3), 15, 23(1), 25(3), 26(2) and 26(3). Article 23(1) had confined operators' commercial communications on websites to their own sites and a narrow set of exceptions. The rest of the decree stands, including article 18, which limits operators' audiovisual advertising to 01:00 to 05:00. The regulator, the DGOJ, opened a public consultation in 2026 on reforming the Act; no bill has been published.

For placements: since the annulment of article 23(1) there is no decree-level ban on licensed operators' content on third-party Spanish websites, but the Act's general principles, the ban on targeting minors and the regulator's stated intention to legislate again mean the position should be treated as temporary.

Sweden

The Gambling Act (2018:1138), in force since 1 January 2019, requires in chapter 15 that marketing of gambling to consumers observes moderation (måttfullhet), prohibits marketing aimed at under-18s and direct marketing to people on the Spelpaus self-exclusion register, and reserves marketing to operators licensed in Sweden. A government proposal to tighten the moderation requirement was rejected by the Riksdag in the 2022/23 session. Supervision is shared between the Swedish Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) and the Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket), which in 2025 issued general guidance (KOVFS 2025:2) on how the chapter 15 rules apply to licensed operators' campaigns.

For placements: content for Swedish-licensed operators on Swedish publishers is permitted if it is moderate in tone, makes no exaggerated claims about winning and is not aimed at minors. Content for operators without a Swedish licence is itself a ground for enforcement.

Brazil

Brazil regulated fixed-odds betting through Law 14.790 of 29 December 2023, and the licensed market opened on 1 January 2025. Advertising rules were set by Ordinance SPA/MF 1.231 of 31 July 2024, applying from 1 January 2025: every communication, including on blogs and social networks, must be identifiable as advertising (article 15), and operators are jointly liable for the advertising of their affiliates (article 21).

That framework was overtaken on 25 September 2026, when the federal government issued Provisional Measure 1.394/2026, which prohibits the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting in Brazil. Existing advertising and sponsorship had to be removed within ten days, according to the Senate's summary. A provisional measure takes effect immediately but lapses unless Congress converts it into law within the constitutional deadline; the Senate's news service put the voting deadline at 23 November 2026, and industry bodies have asked the Supreme Court to suspend it.

For placements: while the measure stands, betting advertising directed at Brazil is prohibited, including sponsored content on Brazilian Portuguese publishers. Buyers with Portuguese-language campaigns should distinguish Brazilian publishers from those in Portugal, where the measure does not apply.

Applying this when you order

Treat the publisher's country and language as a compliance attribute; a Portuguese-language site in Brazil and one in Portugal are now in different legal positions. Separate sports betting from casino content in your brief, because Germany, the Netherlands and many publishers' own policies treat them differently. Record the publisher's stated gambling policy at the point of ordering, since in several of these markets the publisher carries liability. In the RBN Media Portal every publisher carries a gambling policy classification and a language, so these filters can be applied before an order is placed rather than after a refusal.