Meta has listed all countries where it restricts gambling ads being shown on its platform.
The tech giant’s online gambling and games policy dictates how should gambling companies approach the matter of advertising on Meta platforms.
In summary, every form of gambling-related promotion running on these social channels must first get approved by Meta itself.
It used to be that Meta’s policy listed all countries where companies can run ads after being granted the permission. These included Argentina, Bulgaria, France, New Zealand, and Zambia, among many other jurisdictions.
To make things easier for advertisers, however, these regulated markets have been omitted, and Meta is now only listing the countries where it is impossible to run gambling promotions on its platforms.
The answer as to why it is impossible to obtain a Meta marketing licence in these markets becomes clear at the first glance of the listed countries. The majority of them are jurisdictions where gambling regulations are shaky at best, or gambling as a sector is outright banned.
Where gambling is legal, it is either legal only for foreigners, or there are limited forms of gambling allowed. For example, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Egypt prohibit locals from gambling but foreigners are welcomed. Similar rules apply in Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan.
Taiwan, Mongolia, and Azerbaijan are countries where online gambling and casinos are banned, but there are established lotteries and sports betting markets. This is also the case in Thailand, Pakistan, and Hong Kong.
Gambling is completely prohibited in countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia.
The only country on the list where gambling is fully regulated is the Philippines, with its gambling authority PAGCOR. However, there are ongoing political debates to completely prohibit online gambling there.
This might’ve prompted the Philippines listing by Meta – with the company potentially looking to avoid any stray bullets in the process, much like it recently did in the UK.
