Tim Miller, executive director of the Gambling Commission, criticised Meta’s approach to marketing for illegal gambling websites during a session at ICE 2026 in Barcelona on Monday. Miller spoke about some of the key considerations for the regulator. Among these was its concerns over Meta and its lack of action in helping tackle illegal gambling activity.
Miller told the audience that the sites featuring heavily in the ads were not integrated with GamStop, meaning self-excluded players could gamble with these operators.
“Anyone who spends time on their platforms will likely have seen ads appearing for illegal online casinos,” Miller said. “Most notably, and perhaps most worryingly, many aimed at GB users are for the so-called ‘not on GamStop’ sites.
“These are targeted at consumers that have taken the often-difficult step to self-exclude from online gambling through the use of GamStop, Britain’s multi-operator self-exclusion scheme.”
Miller: Meta a ‘window into criminality’
Miller also set out his concerns about a searchable ad library on Meta. He said this allowed users to find adverts that met certain search criteria and feature key words. He added that search terms such as “not on GamStop” led users straight to ads for unlicensed sites.
“We can see for ourselves how many operators are currently paying Meta to advertise on their platforms,” he said. “It’s effectively a window into criminality. If we can find them, then so can Meta: they simply choose not to look.”
Miller acknowledged there had been some level of response from Meta. He said the group had recommended the regulator deploy AI tools to monitor and find ads and then report them. However, he hit out at this, saying it should be down to Meta to support regulators with their own systems.
“I would be very surprised if Meta, as one of the world’s largest tech companies is incapable of proactively using their own keyword facility to prevent the advertising of illegal gambling,” he said. “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.
“It does leave Meta with the question of ‘Whose side are you on?’. The consumer and users of your platforms, many of whom are seeking to escape gambling harm, or the criminals and con artists who are using your platforms to prey on vulnerable people right in front of your eyes and whose clutches you risk pushing those vulnerable people into?”
Commission working to combat unlicensed operators
Aside from his criticism of Meta, Miller also raised several other key points at ICE. These included how the commission has stepped up evidence-based work on illegal gambling.
He set out how between April and December last year, the regulator sent 592 cease-and-desist notices to operators and advertisers.
During the same period, some 328,000 URLs reported to search engines and approximately 204,000 removed. Meanwhile, 839 URLs were referred for delisting and 627 disrupted by being taken down or geo-blocked.
“Clearly a lot of work has already happened to better understand the illegal market,” Miller said. “At the same time, a lot of action has been taken by us to disrupt illegal operators from targeting consumers in Great Britain at scale. But we also need to think about where else we all need to focus.”
Calls for support from regulated market
On this, Miller called for greater support from licensed operators and suppliers active in the regulated market. He said the industry must reflect on what “unintended” role it is playing in growing the threat of illegal gambling.
“If we want consumers to make well informed choices and, if not experiencing harm, remain in the licensed market then there needs to be clear blue water between that and the unlicensed space,” he said.
“But at the moment, the dividing line is being muddied by those that want to be a part of supplying legitimate, regulated operators yet are either indifferent to whether they also facilitate the illegal market or are actively seeking to play both sides.
“Collectively, we need to make working with or suppling unlicensed operators commercially toxic.”
Miller went on to highlight three key questions legitimate businesses in the industry could ask to help make this happen.
“Firstly, how do you hardwire addressing the threats that the illegal market brings to your business through your procurement, contractual and commercial decision making,” he said. “Secondly, what due diligence are you doing with all of your suppliers and contractors to satisfy yourself that they are not working with your illegal, unregulated competitors?
“Finally, what contractual provisions can you put in place to prevent them from working with illegal operators or to make the contractual consequences too great if they do?
“What I’m seeking is to drive greater common purpose, greater alignment, greater partnership between regulator and regulated in our shared desire to tackle the illegal market. Because in this space, consumer protection really does go hand in hand with revenue protection.”
Tim Miller said Meta’s searchable advert library is a “window into criminality”.