VNLOK presses Meta lawsuit over illegal Dutch gambling ads

Dutch betting trade association VNLOK intends to press ahead with a legal challenge against Meta, accusing the technology company of failing to protect consumers in the Netherlands from advertising placed by unlicensed gambling operators.

Speaking at the Gaming in Spain conference in Madrid, VNLOK chairman Björn Fuchs told delegates the dispute could have been avoided had Meta taken more responsibility for policing illegal gambling content on its platforms, according to SBC News.

Fuchs used a football comparison to describe the position of Europe's regulated gambling markets against black-market competition, likening it to Real Madrid coming back from 3-1 down against AS Roma. "Last night's match, reminded me of the struggle. Like Real, we're three one down and on the back foot, but we must fight and comeback," he said.

VNLOK's case rests on research it commissioned from Game Changer, which Fuchs said found that 79% of identified advertisements came from operators without a Dutch licence. He said the study used ten core keywords against Meta's advertising database and described the resulting figure as "just the tip of the iceberg".

Fuchs told the Madrid audience that the bigger problem was Meta's failure to remove the illegal advertisements once flagged. "But even more worrying was the fact that those illegal ads were not being removed by Facebook," he said, adding that the short shelf life of such ads undermined any complaints-based system. "These ads are only live for a day or day and a half. So having a system where somebody can complain in hindsight and Facebook takes the ad down doesn't work. So the system is flawed."

VNLOK moved from lodging complaints to formal legal action in September, when it served Meta with a summons. "We have formally served Meta, and we've sent the official summons," Fuchs confirmed. The organisation has separately told SBC News that Dutch consumers are "paying the price" of what it calls Meta's "digital wild west".

A first hearing is anticipated before the end of this year, with the substantive stage of the case not expected to open until the opening months of 2027. Fuchs cautioned that a company with Meta's legal firepower could draw the dispute out considerably. "At this point, it's still waiting to see which legal trick they are going to use. They've got a quite big bag of tricks," he said.

Asked about VNLOK's motives, Fuchs acknowledged that licensed Dutch operators are losing business to illegal rivals, but presented the litigation primarily as a push for accountability and stronger consumer protection, at a time when the regulated sector already faces heavy political scrutiny. "Gambling has no friends in politics," he told delegates. "We should take the fight to Meta, and of course this journey can legally push us into the next ice age."

Fuchs argued the case carries significance beyond the Netherlands, urging other national associations not to wait for Meta to act on its own. "The signal that we want to give towards society and towards politicians, but also to other countries, is to pick up that fight, because if you wait for Meta to move, it might be too late," he said.

While the lawsuit itself is confined to Dutch law, VNLOK says it is already in dialogue with counterparts and government bodies elsewhere in Europe, and expects parallel moves in markets such as Germany and France to build momentum for a coordinated response. "At this point the lawsuit is purely based on the Dutch legal spectrum, but we are in contact with European counterparts. We're also in contact with various European government bodies," Fuchs said.