UKGC Scrutinizes Meta for Not Stopping Illegal Gambling Ads

With ICE Barcelona underway, industry representatives and experts continue to discuss the future of the market, new developments and existing challenges. The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) used the opportunity to highlight its disgruntlement with Meta and its ties to illegal gambling marketers.

Whose Side Are You on?

In a speech delivered by Tim Miller, executive director of the UKGC, at ICE Barcelona, the authority highlighted its criticism of social media giant Meta. Miller accused the company of “trying to have its cake and eat it,” pointing out that the company has been trying to maintain ties to the legal gaming industry, while still allowing advertisers to promote unlicensed companies.  

Miller asserted that, despite the UKGC’s prior warnings, ads promoting illegal gambling services remain common on Meta’s social media platforms. Not only that, but many of these ads appear to directly target British customers and, to top it all off, some are labelled as “not on GamStop.”

For reference, GamStop is the UK’s national self-exclusion scheme. Thus, the ads cited by Miller seek to entice self-excluded and potentially vulnerable players to gamble and potentially lose their money on riskier gambling platforms.

“They Simply Chose Not to Look”

While Meta does remove some of these ads, it only does so when they are flagged, Miller noted. He also rejected the notion that Meta is unaware of what’s taking place across its platforms.

Now, companies like Meta will tell you that they don’t tolerate the advertising of illegal sites and will remove them if they are notified about them. But that approach suggests that they don’t know about those ads unless alerted. That is simply false.

Tim Miller

Miller added that Meta’s ad library has built-in functions that allow for specific keywords to be searched. He said that typing in “not on GamStop” yields quite a few results.

Miller noted that Meta has previously encouraged the UKGC to use AI tools to flag these ads. Because of that, the UKGC exec director accused Meta of intentionally turning a blind eye to the illegal ads.

Miller concluded his point by saying that Meta should decide whether it’s on the side of the consumers and users of its platforms or the criminals and con artists who exploit its platforms to prey on vulnerable people.