Meta gambling advertisements reached 2.3 times more male accounts than female accounts in Ireland

(AsiaGameHub) –   A report spearheaded by the University of Cambridge has identified a pronounced gender disparity in gambling advertising on Meta’s platforms in Ireland, revealing that ads were delivered to significantly more male than female accounts prior to the implementation of new national advertising regulations.

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Good to Know

• In Ireland, gambling advertisements were seen by 12.7 million male Meta accounts and 5.5 million female accounts.
• The analysis examined 411 advertisements from 88 gambling operators licensed in Ireland from March 2024 to February 2025.
• This data was collected before major provisions of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 became active in March 2025.

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Young Men Drove Most Gambling Ad Reach

New research led by the University of Cambridge indicates that gambling ads on Meta platforms in Ireland were seen by over twice as many men as women.

The study utilized Meta advertising data released in compliance with the European Union’s Digital Services Act. Academics from the Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling analyzed 411 ads from 88 licensed Irish gambling operators. The sample included users aged 18 to 65 and over during the period from March 2024 to February 2025.

Male accounts constituted a substantially larger portion of the audience. The advertisements reached 12,690,245 male Meta accounts, versus 5,458,438 female accounts. Overall, the ads achieved 18,389,653 unique account impressions during the timeframe.

Merely 91 ads, or 22%, were explicitly configured to target only men. No ads targeted women exclusively. The majority of advertisements, 74%, were set to an “All” gender target, yet their actual delivery remained heavily skewed toward male users.

Dr Elena Petrovskaya, the report’s lead author and a faculty member at the Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology, stated:

“Initially, not a large number of adverts were specifically aimed at men.”

“However, even when adverts were configured to reach all genders, they still predominantly reached that highly vulnerable demographic of young men.

“This demonstrates that simply by placing ads on social media, companies are still accessing young men – the group other studies identify as being at greatest risk from gambling-related harms.”

The age distribution provided further insight. Accounts belonging to individuals aged 25 to 34 formed the largest segment, with 6,246,408 reached, accounting for 33.9%. Those aged 35 to 44 were next, with 4,701,885 reached, or 25.5%. Collectively, users between 25 and 44 years old represented nearly 60% of the total audience.

One particular Betfair advertisement reached 1,320,179 unique accounts, a figure roughly equivalent to 26% of Ireland’s population. The five most-viewed ads together reached 3,688,413 accounts.

Researchers suggested that creative content centered on sports, particularly football, likely contributed to the higher delivery rates to male users. They also highlighted the role of Meta’s advertising systems, where algorithmic delivery can influence the final audience composition even when brands select broad targeting parameters.

Ireland already exhibits high levels of gambling engagement. The report notes a lifetime gambling participation rate of 64.5%, with 3.3% of the population classified as high-risk gamblers. Men aged 25 to 34 display the highest rate of risky gambling at 1.3%, compared to just 0.2% for women in the same age bracket.

“Even in a small-population country like Ireland, the scale of account reach for these ads was staggering,” remarked Petrovskaya. “We selected Ireland as a case study of a setting where a contemporary gambling regulatory system was not yet in place.”

Ireland has subsequently amended its regulations. The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 came into force in March 2025, establishing the Gambling Regulatory Authority. This legislation enacted stricter advertising controls, including a prohibition on gambling ads on broadcast and on-demand audiovisual services between 5:30 am and 9:00 pm. On social media and video platforms, gambling advertisements may now only target users who actively follow a licensed gambling operator.

Dr Deidre Leahy from MTU in Cork, a co-author of the report, commented:

“This study offers crucial insights that set a baseline for the extent of gambling advertising on social media in Ireland before the establishment of a regulatory framework.

“This baseline will be vital for evaluating the effectiveness of the reforms introduced by the Gambling Regulation Act.”