Meta “happy to turn a blind eye” to illegal online casino ads on Facebook, Instagram

Illegal gambling is on the rise, and the big names in tech are failing to pick up the slack.

The UK’s Gambling Commissioner’s top executive has said that Meta is “happy to turn a blind eye” to illegal gambling advertisements on sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Executive Tim Miller spoke at the gaming conference ICE 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, about the commission’s mission to reduce the harms that come from unlicensed gambling.

In his speech, Miller claims that anyone who spends time on Meta’s platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, will have seen ads for illegal online casinos.

“Most notably, and perhaps most worryingly, many of these aimed at Great British users are for the so-called not on GamStop’ sites.”

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GamStop is Britain’s multi-operator self-exclusion scheme that gives users the ability to exclude themselves from gambling upon recognizing that the impact of gambling is harmful or addictive, as per the Gambling Commission.

Therefore, non-GamStop or “not on GamStop” sites don’t give users the ability to self-exclude from these services, making it harder for them to quit gambling.

While not on GamStop, casinos aren’t illegal – they still need to have the same licensing and follow the same legal framework as casinos and gambling agents that are on GamStop.

Many of these non-GamStop casinos operate outside the UK’s regulatory framework, whereas legal casinos must be licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.

Miller seems to imply that illegal casinos are marketing specifically to British users as non-GamStop sites.

This could be to incite users with a flexible and more liberal gambling experience without any restrictions.

As illegal casinos continue to proliferate, Miller attributes this to big tech companies like Meta, which advertise unlicensed online casinos.

“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,” Miller said in his speech, as found by The Register.

Meta’s searchable ad library shows “non-GamStop” sites, which apparently shows that the big tech company is actively advertising on Meta platforms.

“It’s effectively a window into criminality.”

While the commission has reached out to Meta, Miller says there’s been little to no progress apart from “a few warm words.”

Meta suggested that the commission invest in and deploy its own AI tools to monitor and identify these ads, which it can then report.

Miller said that the money and resources spent on doing it Meta’s way would just be the commission doing the tech giant’s job for them.

“I would be very surprised if Meta, as one of the world’s largest tech companies, is incapable of proactively using its own keyword facility to prevent the advertising of illegal gambling. It could leave you with the impression it is quite happy to turn a blind eye and continue taking money from criminals and scammers until someone shouts about it.”

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