VNLOK, the Dutch gambling industry association, has raised concerns about the prevalence of illegal gambling advertisements on Facebook and Instagram aimed at Dutch users during the months of May and June. Their analysis revealed that an alarming 96.5% of the gambling ads posted in May and approximately 93.7% in June were linked to operators without necessary licenses.
Furthermore, the association noted that ads traceable to Facebook pages were even more likely to be illegal, with rates hitting 96% in May and almost 98.8% in June. The VNLOK scrutinized around 65,000 advertisements with the broadest reach and discovered that many of these illegal ads were appearing on Facebook pages that had no identifiable connection to gambling.
The investigation highlighted a striking rise in the number of Facebook pages displaying gambling advertisements, which surged from 697 in May to 3,237 by June. VNLOK pointed out that these pages often do not present themselves as gambling entities and span over a hundred different categories. This fragmentation complicates efforts to identify and remove such ads, enabling advertisers to quickly reemerge under different identities after being taken down.
According to VNLOK, only about 11% of the illegal ads identified were removed by Meta in May, and this figure increased slightly to 15% in June. The association identified various tactics employed by these advertisers, such as cloaking, redirecting ads through Telegram, and using popular Dutch gambling brands without permission. Cloaking involves presenting different information to authorities and customers, complicating the enforcement of regulations.
In response to this situation, VNLOK has filed a complaint with the European Commission and is taking action against Meta, demanding a stricter verification process for all gambling advertisers. These developments come amid the Netherlands tightening regulations around gambling advertising.
