Dutch trade association VNLOK has served Meta with a court summons, saying the company is not doing enough to stop ads for unlicensed casinos and bookmakers from reaching Dutch audiences.
On 28 September VNLOK, which represents the Netherlands' licensed online operators, formally served the summons on Meta. It is the final step in proceedings the association announced on 22 June 2026, when it said it intended to sue and filed a parallel complaint with the European Commission.
The claim rests on the Digital Services Act. VNLOK is asking the court to find that Meta is not meeting its DSA obligations, to order the company to take measures against ads from illegal operators aimed at Dutch consumers, and to impose a judicial penalty payment (dwangsom) for each day the order goes unmet.
For very large online platforms, the DSA imposes additional duties to assess and mitigate systemic risks, including those tied to the spread of illegal content. VNLOK argues that the measures Meta applies are not sufficient to effectively prevent illegal gambling advertising.
What VNLOK bases its claim on
According to the association's own research:
- more than 90% of the gambling ads it examined on Facebook came from operators without a Dutch licence;
- of the ads VNLOK flagged to Meta, the company removed 11% in May and 15% in June;
- illegal ads are often live only briefly, so removal after the fact frequently comes too late, the association says;
- the KSA, according to VNLOK, sends Meta thousands of reports about illegal gambling ads every month.
VNLOK chairman Björn Fuchs said the association had repeatedly pointed out the scale of the problem to Meta and asked for a structural solution, without sufficient result — which is why the case is now going to a Dutch court. In his words, Meta is not the only target of the complaint: when an illegal operator is removed from one platform it reappears on another, leaving the industry permanently playing catch-up.
Meta had made no public statement on the claim at the time of writing.
It is worth noting separately that Meta has already been involved in DSA proceedings before Dutch courts in 2025–2026, though those cases concerned other requirements of the regulation and were unrelated to gambling advertising.
Parliament is weighing the same question
The summons comes on the eve of a vote in the Dutch House of Representatives. On 29 September MPs are due to vote on a motion concerning the liability of online platforms for illegal gambling advertising. The initiative is aimed in particular at making platforms liable where illegal ads remain visible after repeated notifications.
VNLOK supports the initiative but does not think it is necessary to wait for it to pass: in the association's view, the KSA already has the legal tools to hold intermediaries in the chain to account.
Why it matters
The case could become an important test of how far the obligations of large online platforms extend when it comes to preventing the spread of illegal gambling advertising in the Netherlands.
Separately from the court proceedings, the question of platform liability is also being considered at the level of the Dutch parliament.
