Paf and Meta Pilot a Licence-Sharing Fix for Illegal Casino Ads

Anyone who scrolls past a gambling advert on Facebook or Instagram has probably wondered whether the operator behind it is actually licensed where they live. Nordic operator Paf has just agreed a pilot with Meta designed to answer that question automatically, starting with a trial in Switzerland that could eventually be rolled out further afield.

What’s been released

Nordic gambling firm Paf has revealed that it has agreed terms with Meta to launch a pilot project in a major development in the fight against unlicensed gambling.

Paf is the gambling operator controlled by the Government of Åland and the technology partner behind Swiss market leader mycasino.ch.
The deal was announced by
Paf Chief Business Development Officer Jesper Eliasson, who introduced the pilot at SBC Summit in Lisbon.

The work is set to start shortly, with Paf aiming to develop a model that could be scaled to other markets.

The goal is to build a model in Switzerland that can then be scaled up to more markets, Paf said.
There’s no confirmed UK rollout yet, but the mechanics being tested are the sort of thing UK-licensed operators and the wider industry have been pushing platforms to adopt for some time.

What’s changed

Rather than relying on Meta to police adverts after the fact, Paf is handing over the paperwork that proves who is legitimate.
Under the project, Paf will share licence documents and URLs with Meta to help the platform distinguish between licensed and unlicensed operators, with the material covering both operators and affiliates.

Eliasson said Paf will share certain data with Meta as part of the pilot, including licence documents and URLs, so Meta can build a clearer picture of who is regulated and who is not, covering both operators and affiliates.

The reasoning behind starting small is practical.
European licensing systems vary between jurisdictions, making it difficult for platforms to verify gambling operators’ claims, and Eliasson said offshore businesses also use advertising creatives designed to avoid Facebook’s controls.
As Eliasson put it,
“The licence may come from somewhere else, and it can be hard to detect in that mess of jurisdictions.”

The timing is notable.
Just days after Dutch trade body VNLOK served Meta with a court summons over illegal gambling ads on Facebook and Instagram, a Nordic operator has chosen a different route: working with the tech giant rather than suing it.

VNLOK had said that Meta displayed over 70,000 gambling adverts on its platforms in the final quarter of 2025, with 95% of those coming from unlicensed operators, and less than 5% of those were removed.

Where it fits

For UK players, the practical day-to-day impact isn’t immediate since the trial is confined to Switzerland for now, but the principle matters. Social feeds are one of the main places players encounter gambling adverts outside a casino’s own app or site, and distinguishing a UKGC-licensed brand from an offshore lookalike on the same platform has long been a headache for both regulators and the licensed operators trying to compete fairly. A model that lets Meta verify licensing documents at source, rather than chasing down individual ad creatives, is the kind of infrastructure fix that could eventually make illegal advertising harder to sustain in any regulated market, UK included.

It also fits a broader pattern of operators choosing cooperation over confrontation with the platforms hosting their adverts, in contrast to the legal route taken in the Netherlands.
Paf, which delivered record financial results in 2025, is not resting on its laurels as it lands a statement deal with a Big Tech firm that has been in for heavy industry criticism due to its inaction against the black market.
If the Swiss pilot proves it can meaningfully cut unlicensed reach, expect other regulated markets to start asking Meta for the same treatment.

Sources

• SBC News – Paf unveils unique pilot project with Meta to fight unlicensed gambling
• iGaming Express – Paf and Meta to Block Illegal Gambling Ads
• iGaming Business – Paf teams up with Facebook on Swiss pilot to target black market ads
• Hipther – Paf and Meta launch Switzerland pilot to curb unlicensed gambling ads