Dutch trade association VNLOK has accused Meta of failing to stop illegal gambling advertising. According to the group's research, between 94% and 97% of casino ads shown to users in the Netherlands during May and June came from unlicensed operators.
VNLOK analysed Meta's ad library, examining 65,000 ads with the highest reach. In May, 96.5% of gambling ads were found to be illegal; in June, 93.7%. Unlicensed operators mask their activity by running campaigns through pages unrelated to gambling — fan clubs, municipal accounts, marketing agencies, personal blogs. This fragmentation makes enforcement harder: after a page is removed, the advertiser simply launches another.
The number of pages running casino ads grew from 697 in May to 3,237 in June. Of the accounts identified, 96% in May and 98.8% in June led to illegal sites. Around 76% of May ads ran for less than a day; in June, 65%. Meta removed just 11% of flagged ads in May and 15% in June.
VNLOK documented several evasion techniques: cloaking that shows regulators an error page while sending players to the casino, redirects through Telegram, and unauthorised use of licensed Dutch operator brands. The association filed a lawsuit against Meta in June and lodged a complaint with the European Commission, demanding advertiser verification before campaigns go live.
According to VNLOK, players on illegal sites are four times more likely to fall into the high-risk category for addiction. Dutch law prohibits targeting casino ads at 18–23-year-olds, even though that age is legal to play. A review of 277 ads in Meta's library found violations by both online operators and land-based licensees.
