Paf and Meta launch Swiss pilot against unlicensed gambling adverts
Åland-controlled operator Paf says it will share licence data with Facebook to help the platform identify illegal gambling ads in Switzerland, with the trial beginning next week.
A Nordic gambling operator has opted for collaboration rather than confrontation with Meta over unlicensed betting advertising. Paf, the state-owned operator controlled by the Government of Åland and technology partner behind Swiss market leader mycasino.ch, has struck a pilot agreement with Facebook to help identify and curb illegal gambling promotion on the platform in Switzerland. The arrangement comes only days after the Dutch trade body VNLOK took the opposite approach, issuing Meta with a court summons over illegal gambling ads appearing on Facebook and Instagram.
Jesper Eliasson, Paf's chief business development officer, disclosed the agreement on Wednesday during a panel at SBC Summit Lisbon titled Scandinavia: High Tax, High Standards, High Stakes, alongside representatives from LeoVegas, FDJ United and the Danish Gambling Authority, according to iGaming Business.
Work under the pilot is due to start next week. Eliasson told iGB the deal was "absolutely fresh. We decided it today," after meeting Facebook representatives in Lisbon that same day alongside Wolfgang Bliem, chief executive of Grand Casino Luzern, which owns mycasino.ch. The site, launched in 2019, now generates more than €100m in annual revenue. Eliasson did not identify who represented Facebook.
Under the scheme, Paf will give Meta licence documents and URLs covering both operators and affiliates, intended to help the company distinguish regulated brands from unlicensed ones. Eliasson said offshore operators routinely design creatives that slip past Facebook's existing checks, while Europe's fragmented licensing regimes make it difficult to verify claims at speed. "The licence may come from somewhere else, and it can be hard to detect in that mess of jurisdictions," he said, adding that the Swiss trial is meant as a template that could later be applied elsewhere. He also flagged crypto casinos operating out of what he called "toothless jurisdictions".
Eliasson framed Switzerland as both a strategic and personal priority, citing his direct oversight of Paf's business there and its partnership with Grand Casino Luzern. He noted mycasino.ch became a €70m business and clear market leader within 16 months of launch, and now holds more than 30% of the Swiss market — a position he wants shielded from operators that have not paid for licensing, compliance or responsible gambling obligations.
Paf is putting no money into the project, according to Eliasson, only "time and talks", and intends to bring Switzerland's regulator into the process too, aiming to get Facebook and the regulator "around the table" together. He said the Lisbon audience seemed sceptical on hearing the news, remarking that operators usually sue Facebook rather than partner with it, but argued Meta has its own commercial reasons to cooperate given how much operators like Paf spend on the platform.
Separately, Eliasson warned that overly strict product rules — such as slowing games down or banning titles regulators judge too risky — could push players toward offshore sites with a better product. Bliem, on a separate panel the previous day, outlined Switzerland's system of online licences tied exclusively to land-based casinos and taxed progressively between 20% and 80%, naming the absence of payment blocking and the lottery sector's monopoly on sports betting as particular weaknesses, with Swiss bettors going offshore for better odds during events such as this year's World Cup.
Eliasson acknowledged the pilot's outcome is uncertain but said Paf regards simply getting Meta to the table as a success in itself, and would look for alternative approaches if this one does not work. He said he hopes a successful Swiss trial can be extended to other European markets.