According to a new report, Meta earns at least €10 million per year from advertising unlicensed gambling in the Netherlands. This amount, based on a realistic market model, is only the lower bound of the company’s actual revenue, as the calculations take into account only eight basic search queries. A significant share of the ads target vulnerable groups, including young people aged 18–24.
The study, prepared by XY Legal Solutions B.V. and VNLOK, is based on an analysis of data from the Meta Ad Library for March 2026. The methodology includes monitoring ads across eight key queries: Gokkast, Gratis Spins, Welkomstbonus, Holland Casino, Casino, Bookmaker, Gokken, Free Spins; classifying them in terms of legality; and estimating Meta’s revenue through CPM market models.
Examples of ads:
Results:
- 15,114 ads violating the rules were identified, generating 75.8 million impressions among Facebook and Instagram users in the Netherlands.
- 5.8 million impressions were served to young people aged 18–24, which contradicts legal standards for the protection of vulnerable groups.
- Over the month, Meta earned between €607,000 and €1,137,000 from this advertising, depending on the CPM scenario.
- With linear extrapolation, Meta’s annual revenue from illegal gambling advertising could amount to between €7.28 million and €13.65 million.
Structural observations:
- About 93% of ads remain active for less than 14 days; the median is 3 days.
- The use of App Store or Google Play links as white pages, where a redirect sends the user to an unlicensed site.
- Active use of the names of well-known Dutch companies and lookalike domains to mislead users.
- The use of fake accounts with reviews from “winners”.
- The constant creation of new ad accounts and pages to replace removed ones, making the fight against illegal operators a process of “playing catch-up”.
Full report: Marktanalyse: Een schatting van de jaarlijkse omzet uit Illegale gokreclame op Meta-platformen in Nederland.
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