Meta Faces Pressure Over Illegal Gambling Ads Targeting Australians

Meta is facing renewed scrutiny in Australia after reports found Facebook and Instagram carrying advertisements for unlicensed online casinos targeting Australian users. The ads promote offshore poker machine apps, roulette simulators, and blackjack games, with some promotions appearing to impersonate established brands like Crown Melbourne and Star, even though neither operates online gambling.

The issue, first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, highlights a gap in Australian regulation that leaves the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) largely powerless to force Meta to pull the advertisements, even when they clearly violate the country’s gambling laws.

A Regulatory Loophole Protects the Ads

Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, ACMA can only determine that an advertising breach has occurred if it establishes that the majority of users accessing a given website are physically located in Australia. Because many of these offshore casino platforms are globally hosted and attract traffic from users in multiple countries, meeting that threshold is difficult in practice.

As a result, ACMA can request that Meta remove specific advertisements, but it cannot currently compel the company to take action. A spokesperson for the regulator confirmed the limitation, noting that the burden of proof around user location effectively shields many international operators from enforcement.

Accessing these offshore sites is not illegal for individual Australians, but the operators themselves sidestep the strict rules that licensed local gambling companies must follow, including mandatory harm-minimization messaging within their advertising.

Affiliate Marketers and “Scambling” Sites

Many of the advertisements were reportedly placed by affiliate marketers who earn commissions of up to 20% based on the losses of customers they refer. Some ads directed users toward what have been described as “scambling” sites — platforms built so that winnings effectively cannot be withdrawn once deposited.

Meta has pushed back on some of the criticism, telling reporters that meaningfully curbing illegal gambling promotion requires cooperation between domain registrars, hosting providers, and regulators capable of blocking offending sites at the source, rather than relying solely on ad-platform enforcement. The company said it has deactivated advertising accounts tied to brand impersonation and that it removed more than 159 million scam advertisements globally over the past year.

Still, critics argue Meta already has the technical tools to prevent this kind of violation, pointing to similar enforcement measures the company applies in markets like Ireland and Indonesia to comply with local intellectual property and content rules.

Part of a Broader Pattern

This is not the first time Meta’s ad enforcement around Australian gambling promotions has drawn criticism. Earlier this year, an Australian influencer with more than 800,000 Instagram followers continued promoting an offshore crypto gambling app despite multiple user reports, with Meta determining the content did not violate its community standards on fraud or scams. ACMA has previously warned that individuals who promote illegal gambling services to Australians can face fines up to $59,400, while those who help facilitate access through referral links risk penalties as high as $2.4 million.

For now, the enforcement gap means Australians will likely keep seeing ads for unlicensed casinos in their feeds, even as licensed sportsbooks and casino operators continue operating under far stricter advertising standards. The episode adds to a growing conversation among regulators worldwide about how far platform responsibility should extend when it comes to policing gambling advertising, and whether existing frameworks like Australia’s Interactive Gambling Act are equipped to handle a global, affiliate-driven advertising ecosystem.