Facebook relaxes egaming rules
Online and offline gambling companies permitted to advertise with social network's consent, providing they comply with local laws.
Facebook has relaxed its policies on egaming advertising in regulated markets outside of the US, as the social network looks to take a larger slice of advertising revenues from the sector.
According to new guidelines, both online and offline gambling companies can now advertise on Facebook as long as they comply with local laws and obtain prior consent from the social network.
“Adverts that promote or facilitate online gambling, games of skill or lotteries, including online casinos, sports books, bingo or poker, are only allowed in specific countries with prior authorization from Facebook,” according to new rules applying to gambling and lotteries.
Any advertising or promotion of online gambling targeted at users in the US will remain prohibited.
The social network also last month changed its policy towards apps by gambling companies in the UK, stating that they could launch non-gambling apps on the site as long as they make clear either through the branding or the name of the app that it is play-for fun, and do not allow earnings to be cashed out or converted to credit for an online gambling website or brick and mortar casino.
Thus the rule changes mean a gambling company can now launch a non-gambling Facebook application and include links off the social networking site to a company blog which is promoting the operator’s products.
Facebook’s policy changes follow behind-closed-doors discussions with around 20 experts drawn from across the egaming space, as the social network giant positions itself to take a larger slice of potential gambling advertising revenues in regulated markets such as the UK.
Facebook’s new rival Google+ social network recently introduced Zynga poker, with Google offering game developers more competitive revenue share terms than Facebook.
Google has been stepping up its paid search strategy around egaming since 2008, when it revised its AdWords to allow pay-per-click advertising in the UK by UK and EEA-licensed gambling companies.