UK gambling regulator says Meta is turning a blind eye to illegal casino ads
The UK Gambling Commission has accused Meta of failing to curb illegal online casino advertising on Facebook and Instagram, warning that some promotions are aimed at people who have self-excluded from gambling.
In a speech at the ICE gambling event in Barcelona on Monday, the commission’s executive director, Tim Miller, said ads for unlicensed casinos were appearing in users’ feeds, including offers for “not on GamStop” sites claiming to bypass Britain’s self-exclusion scheme.
Miller told delegates that companies supplying the gambling sector should not be able to profit from both the regulated and unregulated markets. “It’s time to pick a side, and so we all need to start asking ‘Whose side are you on?’” he said.
Meta has recently faced global scrutiny over how much revenue it has drawn from advertising linked to scams and banned products. Internal materials reviewed by Reuters late last year indicate Meta estimated that up to about 10% of its annual revenue (around $16bn) could come from advertising tied to scams and banned products, though the company later disputed the figure and said it had stepped up enforcement. Reuters also reported that internal slide decks discussed trade-offs, including that cutting scam ads would depress near-term sales, while failing to do so risked regulatory fines the company internally described as “certain” and potentially totalling up to $1bn.
Illegal market, familiar customers
Miller said the regulator’s research suggested the illegal market attracts several groups of players, including people who have already taken steps to stop gambling. “Our research is clear that a major part of the audience for illegal gambling websites and apps are people who are already self-excluded, and I’ll talk more about the risks such consumers face in a moment,” he said.
He said illegal operators threatened consumers, licensed firms, and public finances. “The licensed industry is under threat from illegal operators. Consumers are under threat from illegal operators. The taxpayer is under threat from illegal operators,” he said.
The commission has stepped up disruption work, and Miller urged licensed operators to look carefully at the suppliers and marketing channels they rely on, warning that blurred boundaries only help the black market grow.
“Collectively, we need to make working with or supplying unlicensed operators commercially toxic,” he said.
A window into criminality
Meta was singled out as a company that, Miller argued, has the tools to detect illegal gambling promotions but is not using them effectively. He pointed to Meta’s ad library as proof that the ads are still there. “It’s effectively a window into criminality. If we can find them, then so can Meta: they simply choose not to look,” he said.
Miller said engagement with the company had delivered “very limited progress” and suggested Meta could block obvious keywords before ads run, rather than relying on regulators to hunt them down.
Talking to Reuters, Meta argued it enforced strict advertising policies regarding online gambling and gaming ads, and any ads that violated these policies were promptly removed once identified. “We’ve been working closely with the Commission to identify and remove all the flagged ads found in violation of our policies, and we’re using this intelligence to further improve the proactive detection tools we already have in place,” a spokesperson said. “We would encourage the Commission to continue to collaborate with us to ensure users and legitimate advertisers are protected from these bad actors.”
More powers, bigger stakes
According to Miller, the government has pledged an additional £26 million of funding over the next three years for the Commission to fight illegal gambling. He said proposed legislation would allow the regulator to seek orders against online infrastructure. “When this is enacted, it will give us powers to obtain orders to suspend Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and Internet domain names linked to illegal gambling,” he explained.
But he argued the fight could not be won by regulators alone. “No one actor in this space can win this battle alone; we need to work together,” concluded Miller.
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