Tech Platforms Face Mounting Scrutiny as Gambling Ads Spread Across Social Media

18 September 2026

As online gambling advertising proliferates across social media, tech giants like Meta are facing intensified scrutiny from regulators, advocacy groups, and lawmakers. In the UK, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Philippines, officials are warning that gambling promotions are now embedded in platform ecosystems, blending into organic content, and slipping through AI-assisted recommendation channels. With no signs of a slowdown, the coming clash between free-wheeling advertising and government oversight has only one question: can tech platforms police their ecosystems, or will lawmakers have to step in with stricter controls?

The University of Bristol's Gambling Harms Research Centre released two reports this year. The research found that gambling ads seen by a sample of UK adults averaged 11 per day, and that on social media platforms included in the study, a single ad was seen every 22 minutes. Globally, all three gambling operators included in the paper posted an average of 189 gambling ads a day, totalling 1,323 posts in a week. On all three social media platforms included in the study, a gambling ad was posted to the sample's feeds once every 9 minutes.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) enforcement report released this August found that 8% of ads reviewed required further investigation, and 4% were clearly problematic. While it is encouraging to see some level of enforcement, what does it say about the others? ASA says it has carried out a sweep of gambling operators' social media activity on X and Meta, but illegal gambling ads targeting young people and those who practiced responsible gambling are still appearing.

Meanwhile, around the world, a patchwork of national responses to illegal gambling advertising is emerging, challenging the global tech companies to maintain a consistent policy amid a varied landscape of local laws.

In the Netherlands, trade body VNLOK says Meta's platforms carried more than 50,000 gambling-related ads aimed at Dutch users in the final quarter of 2023 - and over 90% came from unlicensed operators, including spoof casino sites. Earlier this year, more than 32 million impressions of illegal gambling ads reached Dutch users in a single month, with the majority landing on people under 24.

Proposed legislation in the Philippines would ban all online gambling ads in social media and gamified content-effectively prohibiting promotions by influencers, YouTubers, Twitch streamers and video game livestreamers from talking about or promoting online gambling on their channels. Current law does not extend to social media, leaving gambling promotion free to spread.

More on this is available via GAMBLE RANKS.

In Australia, reports indicate unlicensed overseas operators can still advertise illegal gambling sites to Australians, including on Meta. The moment those ads are uploaded, Meta runs them without verifying that they're breaking Australian law, because the power to issue data access orders or website-blocking orders is held by ACMA, not Facebook. In the EU, the Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to tackle this problem: under the law, platforms are required to more proactively monitor and remove illegal content, including ads for illegal gambling.

As governments and advocacy groups push for more accountability, the tech companies keep expanding into gambling. Over the past year, Meta has allowed selected gambling companies to run ads on Instagram. In India, the US, and other places where online gambling is banned, unlicensed operators receive traffic from organic posts, LinkedIn sponsorships, and viral TikTok videos. These platforms are not a neutral playing field. This puts them in the awkward position of determining not only whether gambling is legal, but what constitutes gambling, so that products like slots, dice games, and poker are blocked.

Under the EU's Digital Services Act, the largest platforms must now proactively identify and act on illegal activity or content, including illegal gambling ads. In the Netherlands, anti-money laundering experts worry that Meta's use of artificial intelligence to automatically approve gambling ads in its networks violates Dutch law, and that the flow of money moving through these illegal operations is not being tracked and scrutinized as required under EU legislation.

It all means businesses need to navigate an increasingly complex advertising landscape, managing a patchwork of laws and guidelines that varies as much as the available online tools to combat false and harmful advertising.

From wasting marketing spend to tarnishing reputations, gambling is a money waster for brands-and for companies that don't have the luxury of just promoting their products on Meta and X. The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) criticized the social media platforms, saying they had "failed to curb illegal ads that promote what is effectively an open invitation to gamble on black-market websites that are operating illegally in the UK and pose a risk to people with gambling problems seeking help."