Meta Moves to Restrict Gambling Ads on Facebook and Instagram

Advertisers must now identify their role in advertising and provide more advanced paperwork, including gambling licenses.

Ziv Chen - News Editor at Covers.com
Ziv Chen • News Editor
Jul 9, 2025 • 13:33 ET • 4 min read
Photo By - Imagn Images.

Meta is introducing a more rigorous authorization process for gambling ads on Facebook and Instagram. Now, all advertisements featuring actual-money gaming will have to go through Meta's "Permissions and Verifications" process in the Business Suite. 

Key Takeaways

  • Meta is tightening its policies regarding gambling ads on Facebook and Instagram
  • Advertisers must now identify their role in advertising and provide more advanced paperwork, including gambling licenses 
  • Canada may introduce a national framework to unify sports betting advertising standards across provinces, while U.S. states also enforce restrictions

Advertisers will also have to submit more advanced paperwork, which will incorporate current gambling licenses and certification of compliance of law in all regions where commercials are being shown. Approval is granted only for specific ad accounts, and any new business profiles must undergo a separate internal review. 

The rules apply to all major gambling categories, such as iGaming, sports betting, poker, and more. Only social casinos that offer free-play games with no monetary value are exempt from the new policy.

Advertisers must also explicitly state their ad role and submit proof, including their company names, screenshots of their sites, and ad account rosters. All papers must be in English, and all cases must be hand-reviewed by Meta. Advertisers' paperwork will also be requested more after clearance.

The revised policy also includes specific regulations on influencer advertising.

When a gambling operator refers to or mentions a creator in an ad they share, no immediate authorization is required. But if a creator promotes their gambling ad straight, then the individual or entity will have to become an affiliate, get Meta's approval, and have a signed contract.

Meta has also reaffirmed its ban on targeting anyone under 18. This includes all gambling advertising and social casinos and is part of a broader international campaign to improve responsibility and transparency in gambling advertising.

Ad efforts reshaped by legislative initiatives

Various regions are carrying out initiatives to regulate gambling ad reach and influence. There's a combination of provincial regulations within Canada, but an effort toward federal unification of standards is underway. This could have a radical impact on standards of operation for advertising by sports wagering entities throughout the country.

Such a mechanism would concentrate responsibility, keep responsible gambling standards intact, and possibly eradicate the province-to-province confusion that afflicts users nowadays. All this would impact internet gambling enterprises organizing their ad campaigns, specifically on national television and online media.

At the same time, New Jersey and New York are promoting more rigorous bills than usual restrictions.

New York legislators are advocating a bill to force sportsbooks to prominently display responsible gaming resources on their websites and mobile phone applications.

These initiatives include cooling-off periods, exclusion lists, and access to the latest betting history. Automatic reminders will also be issued where players have transgressed deposit or loss limits, after which they will be referred to assistance services.

A law prohibiting campus sporting advertising wagering at colleges and universities just passed in New Jersey. It's a historic regulatory action for authorities worried about safeguarding young adults against high-tech gambling advertising.

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Ziv Chen
News Editor

Ziv has been deep in the iGaming trenches for over 20 years, long before most people could spell "geolocation compliance." With a background in marketing and business development at some of the biggest names in gambling tech, Ziv knows the industry from the inside out. Since joining Covers, he's turned his sharp eye (and sharper keyboard) toward everything happening in the fast-moving world of online gambling. Whether it's new state launches, the latest twists in regulation, or what the big operators and game providers are cooking up next, Ziv breaks it all down with clarity, context, and just the right amount of snark. He covers the business side of betting, from affiliate trends and revenue reports to the tech powering your favorite slots. His motto in writing is “let’s make it make sense without putting you to sleep.”

When he’s not tracking gambling legislation or looking for the next breaking story, Ziv is living and dying with every pitch and play from his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. As a Pitt graduate, it’s a city loyalty forged in heartbreak, but one he wouldn’t trade for anything, except maybe a few more playoff wins.

When away from the keyboard, Ziv loves to hit the road and soak up the energy of casinos. Whether strolling the neon jungle called the Vegas Strip, or wandering into a smoky riverboat casino in the Midwest, Ziv’s in his element. He’s the guy chatting with players, blackjack dealers, and asking pit bosses way too many questions, all in the name of “research,” of course. The casino floor isn’t just his workplace, it’s a weird and wonderful ecosystem of flashing lights, wild characters, and pure sensory overload, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

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