Unlicensed gambling ads on Facebook and Instagram
AdWatch finds the ads, follows them past the cloak to the real site, checks the licence register, and gives regulators and licensed operators the Meta ad ID with the evidence behind it.
01 · Find
We search Meta’s Ad Library for the words and pages illegal operators use — “not on GamStop”, “gratis spins”, brand names. Under the EU Digital Services Act and UK rules, ads shown there are published. We read all of them, not a sample.
02 · Capture
Illegal campaigns often run for only a few days. Each ad is archived on sight — creative, text and Meta’s own record — and every file gets a SHA-256 fingerprint and a UTC timestamp, so anyone can check later that nothing changed.
03 · Follow
Cloaked ads show regulators a harmless page and players a casino. We open every link as a targeted player would: on a phone, from a home connection in that country, recording each redirect until the destination.
04 · Check
The destination and brand are matched against the national licence register, refreshed nightly. “Unlicensed” needs a real gambling site that is not on it. Facebook pages, app stores, cookie walls and anything uncertain go to a person as Unknown.
Real screens from the live product. Operator names, ad IDs and creatives are blurred here; your team sees them in full.
What the evidence establishes is for your lawyers and your hearing to judge. We make it inspectable: every file hashed, every step timestamped, every verdict tied to the rule that produced it.
1 credit = 1 gambling ad checked in 1 country. Ads we have already checked for you, and ads that turn out not to be gambling, cost nothing. Extra credits €0.25 each — we tell you before you run out.
One country, CSV export.
2,000 credits a month
Five countries, regulator reports, API.
10,000 credits a month
Every country, custom registers, managed review.
From 40,000 credits a month
