The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is keeping a close eye on gambling adverts during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, having scanned over 13,000 marketing campaigns in under a month since the start of the tournament on 11 June.

Continuous improvements to the regulator’s monitoring capabilities have made it possible to tap into the ever-growing volume of gambling adverts targeting UK audiences during the biggest football competition of the decade so far – at least until the 2030 World Cup.

Technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have allowed the ASA to significantly enhance its Active Ad Monitoring system over the past 12 months, leading to a substantial increase in regulatory oversight within the online space as well.

“We are now monitoring over 10,000 online paid ads by UK-licensed gambling operators every month, and using AI to check each of these against the complete set of gambling rules in the Advertising code,” the ASA was quick to point out.

A complex network of AI tools built on top of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Gemini help deliver constant regulatory monitoring in the backend, not only flagging down potential issues with an online gambling ad, but also cross-checking previous ASA rulings in similar cases to pinpoint exact violations.

Potential breaches are then reviewed by the ASA’s team of gambling experts on a case-by-case basis, informing whether further action is needed.

The most recent UK licence holder to end up on the wrong side of the monitoring system is Mr Vegas, which was cautioned by the ASA over a number of iGaming ads on Facebook.

“Our Active Ad Monitoring system will keep scanning ads through the rest of the tournament and beyond. And we’ll continue to work with the gambling industry to ensure their ads follow the rules, and take action if we find ads that don’t,” the regulator concluded.

Still a lot of work do be done

And while the ASA’s work with licensed operators has undoubtedly been of critical value to the regulated gambling sector in the UK, there’s still a feeling of unease looming in the air when the conversation shifts towards illegal gambling advertisements.

Social media platforms like Facebook are ripe with marketing by unlicensed companies like Stake, Rainbet and the usual prediction market suspects like Polymarket – sometimes even undisclosed as paid advertising.

In all fairness, the ASA’s remit only goes as far as what can be regulated and enforced. It should be upon companies like Meta to keep their own backyards tidy, as the Gambling Commission has argued consistently for well over a year.

Still, with Big Tech seemingly careless about the black market operators nesting on their platforms, it looks as if there is no direct answer as to how illegal gambling adverts can be dealt with once and for all.

It certainly doesn’t help that the Gambling Commission, the most authoritative voice in the UK when it comes to gambling, currently looks like a shell of its former self after the rapid one-two departure announcements of Chief Executive Officer Andrew Rhodes, and more recently of Tim Miller, Director of Research and Policy.