Paf Partners with Meta to Tackle Unlicensed Betting Ads in Switzerland

Paf has announced that it is working with Meta to stop unlicensed betting companies from reaching players in Switzerland through social media. Paf, a Nordic betting operator owned by the Government of Åland, will provide Meta with information to help it distinguish licensed operators from unlicensed ones.

Paf is the technology partner of mycasino.ch in Switzerland and of Grand Casino Luzern. The company will share the licence documents and web addresses of these two operators and their affiliated sites with Meta. The agreement may serve as an example of how willing Meta is to use this information.

In other European countries, regulators are criticising Meta for not doing enough to block unlicensed betting ads. In the Netherlands, VNLOK, the association of online betting operators, has sued Meta. The association claims that more than 90% of betting ads reaching the Netherlands through Facebook and Instagram come from operators without a Dutch licence. Meta says it has detection systems in place but argues that these systems are being circumvented.

Paf said that no direct financial investment will be made in this collaboration and that the process will rely on information sharing. Swiss regulators are also reported to be involved. The goal is to reduce the visibility of ads from unlicensed operators and to make the difference between licensed and unlicensed operators clearer on Meta's platforms.