Meta is failing to prevent illegal betting ads, says UK gambling watchdog

Meta’s assertion that it did not know about such ads until it was notified is “simply false”. “It could leave you with the impression they are quite happy to turn a blind eye and continue taking money from criminals and scammers until someone ‌shouts about it,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

In his speech, Miller further said that Meta’s searchable ad library showed which ‌advertisers said their sites were “Not on GamStop”. “If we can find them then so can ‌Meta. They simply choose not to look,” he said.

In response, Meta said it enforced strict advertising policies regarding online gambling ‌ and gaming ads, and any ads that violated these policies were promptly removed once identified.

“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,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“We would encourage ⁠the Commission to continue to collaborate with ⁠us to ensure users and legitimate advertisers are protected from these bad actors,” they added.

While sports betting and online gambling is legal in the UK, operators must adhere to stringent regulations set forth by the Gambling Commission to offer gambling products and services.

As for India, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, prohibits all forms of online money games such as poker and fantasy sports, while only allowing “online social games” and e-sports.

In October last year, the IT Ministry released draft rules for online gaming under which it proposes to set up the Online Gaming Authority of India as a regulator, draw up the process of obtaining registration for companies to legally operate in India and form a three-tiered grievance redressal system, among other things.

However, the Supreme Court is currently hearing a constitutional challenge to the online real-money gaming ban with the main petitioner, Head Digital Works Pvt Ltd, questioning the Parliament’s power to impose a complete ban on real-money games.