Malawi limits betting advertisements to 9pm 6am under MAGLA compliance push

Malawi’s Gaming and Lotteries Authority has reinforced a late-night advertising window for betting and lottery promotions, saying the measure is designed to protect children and vulnerable groups while tightening responsible-gambling compliance across the industry.

The Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority, or MAGLA, said gambling-related advertisements are only permitted to air between 21:00 and 06:00 under Directive No. 1 of 2025, which the regulator presented again during a stakeholder engagement in Blantyre on 18 March 2026. MAGLA director general Rachel Mijiga said the restriction is meant to reduce children’s exposure to gambling content while preserving a balance between economic activity and social responsibility.

MAGLA has framed the measure as part of a broader compliance agenda rather than a standalone media rule. At its March 2025 sensitisation workshop on the newly gazetted gaming regulations, the authority told operators that strict adherence to the new framework was essential, especially on child protection, and warned that anyone found exposing minors to gambling could face serious penalties, including fines of up to K20 million for individuals.

The regulator has also made clear that the advertising directive was issued to gaming operators, not directly to broadcasters. According to MAGLA, the policy was developed after concerns from Members of Parliament, church groups and parents who wanted tighter control over gambling promotion, but the authority chose what it called a “balanced approach” instead of a full ban. In its own wording, adults can still access such advertising during the permitted hours, while the main priority remains shielding underage audiences and vulnerable groups.

That said, the measure has not been without resistance. MISA Malawi said broadcasters complained that the 21:00–06:00 restriction could damage advertising revenues, and a March 2026 roundtable involving MAGLA, broadcasters, operators and MACRA focused on whether the rule could be adjusted without undermining protection for minors. MISA said MAGLA agreed to review stakeholder feedback and communicate its position later, suggesting that the current framework may still be refined.

For now, however, the direction of travel is clear. Malawi’s regulator is pushing the sector toward a more tightly supervised model in which advertising is treated as part of consumer protection and responsible-gambling enforcement, not just a commercial issue. If MAGLA keeps the time-band approach broadly intact, operators and media partners alike will have to adapt to a compliance environment where visibility is increasingly secondary to safeguarding standards.