Banned gambling ads on Meta haven’t disappeared for users in India

Despite bans in certain countries and Meta’s own restrictions, Rest of World’s analysis shows that ads for illegal online gambling continue to appear on Facebook and the company’s other platforms. In December, at least 140 banned ads were identified in India, and dozens of pages ran nearly 1,000 ads across a number of countries. Ads were also found in at least 12 more countries where promoting online gambling is prohibited outright by law, even though Meta classifies 18 countries in Asia and the Middle East as so-called “unsupported markets” for such campaigns.

The focus was not on isolated posts, but on a stream of paid ads leading to gambling websites and apps. The scale is evident from recurring patterns and from the fact that some pages continue to exist even after specific ads are disabled.

What the Ad Library showed — and what it didn’t

Rest of World relied on data from the Meta Ad Library for December, comparing active campaigns with those that had already been disabled. In addition to the nearly 1,000 ads found, the dataset included more than 2,400 inactive ones — that is, removed from delivery — but still leaving a digital footprint in the platform’s archive.

This approach has important limitations that make oversight and attribution difficult. In some countries and for some ad cards, the following information may not be displayed or may be displayed incompletely:

• who exactly the target audience was and what targeting criteria were used — that is, delivery settings by interests, geography, or behavior
• how much money was spent on promotion and what the intensity of impression buying was
• who the real advertiser is if the network uses front pages and opaque account linkages

This opacity turns moderation into a constant game of catch-up, where the violation is recorded but the source remains unclear.

India as a symbol of the crackdown — and the clearest example

From 2021 to 2024, online gambling in India surged in popularity. Two infrastructure factors also played a role, which tend to accelerate the adoption of digital services, including grey-market and illegal ones: cheaper mobile data and wider access to smartphones.

Amid concerns about illegal operations, authorities summoned Meta and Google in the summer to discuss their role in promoting gambling platforms. In August, the Indian government banned all forms of real-money online gambling and its advertising, joining a number of countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as the Middle East.

After the ban, the picture, according to the analysis, remained mixed. In December, with the restrictions already in force, at least 140 banned ads continued to be shown, making India the most vivid example of the gap between the formal ban and the ads’ real-world availability.

The geography of violations and typical promises in ads

In addition to India, Rest of World found nearly 1,000 ads from dozens of pages in countries where local laws prohibit such promotion. Among the platforms and destinations mentioned were Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries where gambling advertising is considered illegal.

A separate conclusion of the analysis concerns the breadth of distribution. Beyond the listed markets, ads ran in at least 12 more countries where they are banned by law, and months after Meta published its rules, ads continued to appear in at least 13 of the 18 countries that the company itself calls unsupported for such campaigns.

In terms of content, these ads are largely similar and function as a showcase of ease and speed. Most often, they lead to websites or apps where users are offered:

• link a bank account and make a deposit
• place bets in card games and slots
• rely on promises of secure transactions and instant withdrawals
• receive referral bonuses and cashback after large losses

The rhetoric of such creatives typically leans on trust and urgency, where financial risk is packaged in the language of convenience.

Bonus advertising as the most common marketing tactic

Using bonuses to attract new players is far from new in online casino marketing. However, bans on advertising them in most countries appeared relatively recently. Online casinos, meanwhile, continue to offer welcome bonuses, including in the mobile segment. Experts at industry sites that rank at the top of search results point to the high effectiveness of this tactic.

Incentives can also apply to specific games in online casinos, especially popular ones. This is also confirmed by the authors of a site about the crash game Aviator — they say that players choose Aviator apps with welcome bonus more often than ones without it.

A ban on bonus advertising against the backdrop of such demand is logical. It is aimed at protecting vulnerable groups and preventing addiction. Activists also emphasize that advertising bonus offers from online casinos often misleads and stays silent about wagering requirements.

How online gambling works in the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia and how the networks are set up

In the Philippines, according to the head of the regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, over 60% of online gambling operations are illegal. National campaigner Digital Pinoys Ronald Gustilo told Rest of World that “most advertising, especially on Facebook, comes from illegal online gambling operators.” According to him, Digital Pinoys provided Meta with information on more than 300 sites with illegal advertising in the region, but only six were removed.

In Thailand, a draft law to legalize land-based casinos was approved this year, but online gambling remains banned. Rest of World described a network of three pages that served more than 500 ads in a single day, promoting the Thai-language Nex855 with live casinos and slots. Rest of World was unable to reach Nex855 or the pages’ administrators.

In Malaysia, gambling has been banned since 1953, and authorities regularly conduct raids against online operators. The analysis found more than 250 ads from six pages promoting the MYB77 slots app, with the campaigns running for a few hours and then vanishing, while the pages remained. A MYB77 support representative declined to comment on the advertising.

The overall mechanism of such networks repeats itself. Pages use fake addresses, sometimes claim a U.S. location, and then quickly launch short campaigns lasting six to eight hours and disappear. At the same time, the profile’s transparency section often shows several managers working from countries in Southeast Asia, which leaves traces but does not always provide a direct link to the organizers.

Rules on paper — and growing pressure from authorities

Meta has previously described its policy on online gambling and gaming ads, including a ban in 18 unsupported markets. In the policy text, the company also states that advertisers must comply with local laws, and emphasizes that the platform is not responsible for how authorized ad accounts comply with regulatory requirements. Meta did not respond to Rest of World’s requests for an interview or comment.

Officials’ dissatisfaction in the region is growing and becoming more specific. Malaysia’s communications minister Fahmi Fadzil publicly criticized Meta for insufficient efforts against illegal gambling and fraud and stated that “if gambling ads are paid for with a credit card, and Facebook knows the content is illegal in Malaysia, they should block the credit card account, but Facebook refused to do so.” In September, he also spoke of more than 120,000 requests to remove content related to illegal gambling offers, some of which continued to remain on the platform.

The context of the dispute was also intensified by a Reuters investigation, which claimed that Meta received more than $16 billion — about 10% of revenue — from fraudulent ads, including schemes, banned goods, and illegal gambling. This figure is often cited as an explanation for why the fight against grey-market ad flows looks slower than regulators expect, though it is difficult to establish a direct causal link in specific markets due to limited data transparency.