Gambling Commission chief blasts Meta over illegal gambling adverts
Summary
Tim Miller, executive director of the Gambling Commission, publicly criticised Meta at ICE 2026 in Barcelona for allowing adverts for illegal, unlicensed gambling sites to run on its platforms, including those explicitly promoting operators “not on GamStop”. Miller described Meta’s searchable ad library as a “window into criminality” and said the platform is choosing not to act despite evidence being readily discoverable. He challenged Meta to use its own tools to prevent illegal gambling adverts rather than delegating monitoring duties to regulators.
The commission also outlined its wider action against unlicensed operators between April and December last year: 592 cease-and-desist notices issued, roughly 328,000 URLs reported to search engines with about 204,000 removed, 839 URLs referred for delisting and 627 disrupted by takedown or geo-blocking. Miller urged licensed operators and suppliers to do more to prevent inadvertently supporting the illegal market and suggested contractual and procurement changes to make working with unlicensed operators commercially unattractive.
Key Points
- Tim Miller accused Meta of allowing adverts for unlicensed gambling sites to appear to UK users, including those that bypass GamStop self-exclusion.
- Miller called Meta’s searchable ad library a “window into criminality” because it makes illegal adverts easy to find with simple keywords like “not on GamStop”.
- The Gambling Commission reported heavy enforcement activity: 592 cease-and-desist notices and hundreds of thousands of URLs reported/removed between April and December 2025.
- Miller criticised Meta for suggesting regulators use AI tools to monitor adverts, arguing it should proactively prevent illegal ads using its own systems.
- He urged regulated operators and suppliers to tighten procurement, due diligence and contractual terms to stop supporting unlicensed operators and reduce consumer harm.
Context and relevance
This is part of a broader regulatory push to curb illegal online gambling and protect consumers who use self-exclusion schemes such as GamStop. The story highlights tensions between tech platforms and regulators over responsibility for policing illegal activity, and it underscores the scale of action regulators are taking to remove illicit content from search engines and platforms. For industry stakeholders, this signals increased scrutiny on marketing channels and supply chains that might indirectly help unlicensed operators.
Why should I read this?
If you work in regulation, compliance, affiliate marketing or platform safety — or you care about protecting vulnerable gamblers — this is worth a quick read. Miller’s comments put clear pressure on Meta and anyone supplying digital advertising or services to the gambling sector: either act to stop illegal adverts or expect regulators and the industry to lean on you. It’s short, sharp and directly relevant to anyone handling player protection or marketing in the regulated market.
Author style
Punchy. The piece highlights a direct regulatory challenge to a major tech platform and explains the practical enforcement numbers behind the rhetoric. If you care about consumer protection or the commercial integrity of the regulated gambling market, the details here matter.