Staying compliant as an affiliate: GB rules and beyond

Staying compliant as an affiliate promoting gambling in Great Britain comes down to five things: promote only brands licensed for GB, label every page as advertising, keep under-18s out of your audience, describe offers exactly as they now are, and fix things quickly when an operator asks. Some of those rules bind you directly. The rest reach you through your operator's licence, which is why operators ask for so much.

This guide covers the GB rules first, as read on the regulators' own pages in October 2026, then summarises other markets.

Why operators ask for what they ask for

Under the Gambling Commission's Social Responsibility code 1.1.2, an operator is responsible for the actions of third parties it contracts with, including you. Its contract with you must:

1. Require you to act as if bound by the same licence conditions and codes of practice as the operator.
2. Oblige you to supply information it needs for its reporting to the Commission.
3. Let it terminate promptly if you breach the contract or act inconsistently with the licensing objectives, "including for affiliates where they have breached a relevant advertising code of practice".

The Commission says licensees must do due diligence and keep oversight of third parties, and that failing to "can result in regulatory action including suspension or the loss of the operating licence". So when an operator asks for audience data, a content change by Friday or a new label on every page, it is usually meeting a licence requirement, not making work for you.

There is a separate condition, 16.1.1, that bans ads on piracy sites and requires operators to stop affiliates placing them there. Expect a clause on it.

Operator view

When we send a takedown request, our licence is behind it. The fastest partners to work with are the ones who reply the same day, fix it, and tell us they've fixed it. That record counts when we decide who to grow with.

Promoting unlicensed brands: the criminal risk

This rule binds you directly. Section 330 of the Gambling Act 2005 makes it an offence to advertise unlawful gambling, which in practice includes promoting an operator that lacks the GB licence it needs. It is not limited to operators.

Section 333 applies the offence to remote advertising where the content is intended to come to the attention of people in Great Britain, or is made available where people in GB are likely to access it, and the gambling uses remote equipment in GB or is capable of being used there. Since 1 November 2014, an offshore site serving GB without a GB licence counts as unlawful gambling for this purpose. A GB-facing page promoting it is in scope.

The penalty on summary conviction is up to 51 weeks' imprisonment (six months in Scotland), a level 5 fine, or both. An advert left on display commits a separate offence for each day. Defences exist, including reasonable belief that the advertising was lawful.

What to do:

• Confirm every brand you promote to GB holds a GB licence before you publish, and again when you refresh the page.
• Don't run GB-facing pages for brands that don't hold a GB licence, even alongside licensed ones.
• See how to vet an operator for the wider checks.

CAP and ASA rules for affiliate content

The CAP Code and the ASA cover the whole UK. The ASA's affiliate marketing advice says the Code applies to affiliate marketing, and that both the brand and the affiliate are responsible even if the affiliate wrote the ad.

Label it as an ad, upfront

Content with an affiliate link or code is advertising, and CAP rule 2.1 requires it to be obviously identifiable as such. The ASA recommends "Ad" or "#ad" at the start. It says "affiliate", "aff", "sp" or a disclaimer at the bottom of the page are likely to be insufficient, and it advises against "sponsored" because it is open to varied interpretation. If every offer on your site earns commission, don't imply the site is independent.

No strong appeal to under-18s (rule 16.3.12)

Gambling ads must not be likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. The test has been "strong appeal" since 1 October 2022, and it asks how under-18s see the content, regardless of how adults see it.

Audience: the 25% test (rule 16.3.13)

Gambling ads must not be directed at under-18s through the media or context they appear in. CAP's guidance says no medium should carry gambling ads if more than 25% of its audience is under 18. For affiliate and influencer content, the operator has to be able to show the ASA, mainly from audience data, that under-18s are unlikely to exceed 25%. That is why operators ask for your analytics.

Followers: the 100,000 rule of thumb

CAP's under-18s guidance, updated 14 October 2025, says at least 100,000 social media follower accounts registered to under-18s, in total across platforms, indicates strong appeal. It's the absolute number that counts, not just the share. In the ASA's BetUK ruling of 13 March 2024, a radio ad featured a retired footballer with at least 157,000 under-18 followers on Instagram and Snapchat, only 8% and 13% of his following there, and the ad still breached the rules. CAP also warns that registered ages understate the real under-18 audience.

No one under 25 (rule 16.3.14)

No one who is, or seems to be, under 25 may be featured gambling or playing a significant role. On 16 September 2026 the ASA ruled against Dribble Media Ltd t/a Midnite and its affiliate over a paid TikTok ad the affiliate made with an AI-generated character who appeared under 25. The operator said it had not sanctioned the ad. The affiliate was named in the ruling all the same.

Worth knowing

If you are a streamer or creator, platform rules sit on top of these. See promoting gambling brands as a streamer.

The 2026 bonus changes: update your old content

From 19 January 2026, amended SR code 5.1.1 bars GB licensees from:

• applying wagering requirements of more than 10 times to bonus funds, and
• including more than one type of gambling product (betting, casino, bingo and lottery) in a single incentive.

These rules bind operators, but they bind you through SR code 1.1.2, and a page describing an offer the operator can no longer run risks misleading readers about what is on offer. Under SR code 5.1.9, significant conditions of an offer must be shown transparently and prominently on any advert for it. Where space is short, say significant conditions apply and link to the full terms, no more than one click away.

What to check:

• Any GB offer showing wagering above 10x
• Combined offers, for example a sports bet that comes with casino free spins
• Comparison tables, bonus pages and reviews written before 19 January 2026
• Significant terms next to every offer, with full terms one click away

The full update list is in our analysis of the 2026 bonus rules.

Affiliate view

The update work falls on us, and some of us have hundreds of offer mentions across old pages. Ask each operator for its current GB offer sheet in writing. If a page is wrong because the operator never told you the offer changed, you want that on record.

Other markets in brief

The rules differ, and some bind you directly:

• Ontario: affiliates generally don't need to register as gaming-related suppliers (the AGCO decides case by case), but operators must ensure affiliates they pay don't also promote unregistered sites (Standard 1.21), and public bonus advertising is banned (Standard 2.05).
• Netherlands: the KSA says an affiliate promoting an unlicensed operator is itself in breach and can be fined.
• Germany: variable commission, such as revenue share, is banned for internet advertising of the online products covered by the OASIS exclusion system (GlüStV 2021 §5(6)).
• Sweden: promoting, for profit, gambling offered without a Swedish licence is a criminal offence when done intentionally or with gross negligence.
• Spain: RD 958/2020 applies to affiliates directly.

Dates, details and sources for each market, including the US states we checked, are in affiliate marketing rules by market.

Where to read the rules yourself

This is a summary, not legal advice. Read the ASA's affiliate marketing advice, CAP's section 16 and under-18s guidance, section 330 of the Gambling Act, and the Gambling Commission's page on third parties.

Checklist

• Every brand you promote to GB holds a GB licence
• "#ad" or "Ad" at the start of affiliate content
• No youth-culture themes; no one who is or seems under 25
• Audience data ready to share, for each channel
• Total under-18 followers checked across platforms
• No GB offer above 10x wagering or mixing product types
• Significant terms beside every offer; full terms one click away
• A same-day route for operator takedown requests