Paf teams up with Meta to fight unlicensed casino ads
Paf, the gambling operator based in the Åland Islands, has launched a pilot with Meta aimed at stopping unlicensed casinos from advertising on Facebook and Instagram. The partnership was unveiled at SBC Summit.
What Paf is providing
Paf will share licensing documents and URLs with Meta, helping the platform tell licensed operators apart from unlicensed ones and from the affiliates that promote them. The first phase focuses on Switzerland and could later be expanded. Jesper Eliasson, Paf's head of business development, said Meta does not want illegal operators on its platforms but cautioned that success is not guaranteed.
- Paf shares licence documents and URLs with Meta.
- The pilot starts with Switzerland.
- VNLOK counted over 70,000 gambling ads on Meta in Q4 2025.
Meta under pressure
The Dutch association VNLOK has taken Meta to court over illegal gambling ads. It found that 95% of more than 70,000 gambling ads in Q4 2025 came from unlicensed operators, and that under 5% were removed. Chair Björn Fuchs wants Meta to take responsibility.
A lesson for Canadian players
An ad in your feed is not a licence. In Ontario, check the AGCO register; elsewhere, check who regulates the site before you sign up. Our guides to licensed casinos and whether online gambling is legal in Canada explain what to look for.
Source: SBC News, 6 October 2026. This article is based on publicly reported news; our editors summarised and rewrote it for Canadian readers.