Tim Miller, executive director of the Gambling Commission, made the allegations during a speech at the ICE Barcelona trade show. He claimed that users spending even a short time on Meta’s platforms are likely to encounter adverts promoting unlicensed gambling sites.
A major concern, Miller said, is that many of these adverts promote casinos that do not participate in Britain’s GamStop self-exclusion scheme, which allows gamblers to block themselves from online gambling sites.
Regulator Challenges Meta’s Claim of Ignorance
Meta has previously insisted that it was unaware of the illegal ads until being notified by authorities. Miller dismissed this claim as “simply false,” stating that Meta’s own ad library clearly shows advertisers promoting sites marked as “Not on GamStop.”
“If we can find them then so can Meta,” Miller said. “They simply choose not to look.”
He added that Meta’s inaction could suggest the company is willing to continue taking money from criminals unless pressured publicly.
Meta Responds, Denies Allegations
Meta responded by stating it enforces strict policies on gambling ads and removes any violating content once identified.
A Meta spokesperson said:
“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.”
The company also encouraged continued collaboration with regulators to protect users and legitimate advertisers from bad actors.