Gambling companies are secretly tracking visitors to their websites and sending their data to Facebook’s parent company without consent, breaching data protection laws. The information is used by Meta to profile people as gamblers and flood them with ads for casinos and betting sites.
A hidden tracking tool on dozens of UK gambling websites extracts visitors’ data, including webpage details and button clicks, and shares it with Meta. This happens automatically, before the user agrees or declines marketing, and can lead to personalized ads being shown on Facebook.
An investigation by the Observer found that 52 out of 150 tested websites shared data without explicit consent, including brands like Hollywoodbets, Sporting Index, and Bwin. Users were bombarded with ads for these sites after the data was transferred, even if they had not agreed to the use of their information.
The issue is part of a broader call for a wider investigation into targeting gamblers. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued reprimands to companies for unlawful data sharing, and Meta has stated that it educates advertisers on setting up business tools properly.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/08/gambling-firms-secretly-shared-users-data-with-facebook-without-permission