UK Gambling Commission Accuses Meta of Ignoring Illegal Gambling Ads

The UK Gambling Commission has publicly criticized Meta for failing to police illegal gambling advertisements on its platforms. Regulatory checks of Meta's ad library revealed unlicensed operators targeting UK users, with executive director Tim Miller calling the situation "a window into criminal activity" during a speech at the ICE gaming conference in Barcelona.

Meta's advertising policies explicitly require gambling businesses to hold valid licenses, yet the company has not responded to allegations of systemic enforcement failures. The Commission notes these illegal operations harm vulnerable consumers while enabling tax evasion and fraud—unlicensed sites bypass consumer protections and frequently cheat customers.

Global regulators are intensifying crackdowns on such operations, with UK authorities having shuttered hundreds of thousands of illicit gambling websites. The Commission specifically flagged ads referencing "not on Gamstop," a UK self-exclusion service, as indicators of predatory targeting.