Lynnae is a journalist covering the intersection of technology, culture, and gambling. She has more than five years of experience as a writer and editor, with bylines at SlashGear and MakeUseOf. On the iGaming side,...
Read Full BioThe UK’s gambling watchdog is accusing Meta of failing to prevent illegal gambling operators from advertising on its platforms, which include popular apps like Facebook and Instagram. The regulator said the social media giant is allowing criminal activity to take place in plain sight.
Tim Miller, the executive director of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), made the comments on Monday at the ICE gaming conference in Barcelona, saying he believed Meta’s ad system is being used to target vulnerable British consumers with illegal gambling promotions.
According to Miller, the regulator has found ads from unlicensed operators in Meta’s searchable ad library, including promotions for so-called “not on Gamstop” casinos that intentionally go after people who have decided to self-exclude from gambling. “If we can find them, so can Meta,” he said, adding that the presence of these ads amounted to “a window into criminality” that the company is refusing to look through.
Gambling Commission Calls Out Meta
In his speech, Miller did more than just rattle off a series of enforcement statistics; instead, he went much further, challenging the wider ecosystem that he claims supports illegal gambling. While the UKGC has issued hundreds of cease-and-desist orders and disrupted hundreds of illegal websites over the past year, he says those efforts have been undermined by some platforms that continue to profit from unlawful advertising.
Miller singled out Meta Platforms Inc., in particular, saying the company’s waiting for regulators to flag illegal ads before acting is hard to justify given its scale and technology. He said the UKGC had reached out to Meta many times about the issue, and all they got in response were suggestions that the regulator use its own AI tools to identify problematic ads and report them.
For Miller, Meta’s position is unacceptable, given it’s “one of the world’s largest tech companies.” He went on to say that Meta’s position, “could leave you with the impression they are quite happy to turn a blind eye and continue taking money from criminals and scammers until someone shouts about it.” As a result, Miller said, “the situation we all face is that regulatory resources or taxpayer money around the world is currently having to be spent on doing Meta’s job for them.”
Pattern of Profiting From Problematic Advertising
Miller’s criticisms aren’t the first time Meta has been called out for allowing illegal advertising on its platform. Instead, they reflect wider concerns about Meta’s ability and willingness to provide meaningful oversight of its platforms.
In December, a Reuters investigation found that the company had internally projected that up to 10% of its total revenue in 2024, or $16 billion, might have come from ads linked to scams and banned goods, including illegal online casinos. According to internal documents reviewed by Reuters, Meta has at times allowed suspect advertisers to continue operating, even charging them higher rates instead of removing them from its platforms.
A separate investigation by the Observer last year found that dozens of gambling firms were using tracking tools to secretly share user data with Facebook, which allowed Meta to profile users as gamblers and inundate them with betting promotions, even when consent was unclear or absent. Privacy activists said the findings showed that platforms like Meta benefit from aggressive, and sometimes unlawful, gambling marketing, even when their own policies prohibit it.
What Meta’s Gambling Ad Policies Say
Meta’s own rules say that gambling operators must hold a valid license in the jurisdictions they want to target, and ban ads for illegal gambling services.
“To run ads that promote online gambling and gaming, advertisers will need to request authorization from Meta… and provide evidence that the gambling activities are appropriately licensed by a regulator or otherwise established as lawful in the territory they want to target,” Meta says in its Online Gambling and Games policy.
In practice, Miller argued, the company isn’t enforcing those policies proactively. He pointed to simple keyword searches of Meta’s ad library that easily identified illegal operators, leaving one to wonder whether compliance failures are systemic rather than accidental.
It’s more than an issue of regulatory compliance for the UKCG; Miller framed it as a moral and commercial choice for suppliers and platforms that work with licensed operators while, at the same time, enabling the illegal market.
“It’s time to pick a side,” he said, warning that if the inaction continues, there’s a risk of further harm to consumers and the erosion of trust in both the gambling industry and the platforms that profit from it.
