Facebook Stiffens Rules for Gambling Ads

Facebook parent Meta has instituted new, stricter guidelines for gambling advertisers, while defining what does and does not require Facebook permission.

Facebook Stiffens Rules for Gambling Ads

Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Inc. has published new guidelines for the acceptance of gambling advertising by the social media giant.

“Authorized advertisers must follow all applicable laws and include targeting criteria consistent with Meta’s targeting requirements. At a minimum, ads may not be targeted to people under 18 years of age,” reads Meta’s new advertising policy, published on the company’s website.

Meta provided details explaining which forms of gambling require written permission. The new policies affect all forms of online gambling, such as advertising “common types of gambling include betting, lotteries, raffles, casino games, fantasy sports, bingo, poker, skill game tournaments and sweepstakes,” the site said.

Other forms of gambling that also require written permission for advertising include games that require a monetary value for entry featuring prizes with monetary value; this, according to the platform, includes not only cash but also digital currencies such as Bitcoin. Games that require the user to pay in order to play or pay to get an advantage in winning a prize of monetary value also fall under the regulation.

Finally, Meta announced that gambling ads “with destination (landing) pages that contain promotions for online gambling or games, even if there is no opportunity to gamble or game directly on that page, such as aggregator or affiliate sites” require written permission.

Free-to-play games are not subject to this regulation, as well as ads that promote gambling at retail locations such as brick-and-mortar gambling venues.