FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 11, 2026

Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Online social casino and sweepstakes casino games, which can be “free” to play but quickly tempt players to put in real money, can leave users deeply in debt. A new Tech Transparency Project (TTP) report details how Facebook—a leading platform for these games—helps attract and hook players while collecting a slice of the revenue for itself.

The lucrative arrangement with these games is part of a broader pattern of Facebook’s disregard for the financial security of its users—underscored by a recently revealed internal projection that 10% ($16 billion) of its 2024 revenue might come from peddling ads for fraudulent or banned products.

Read TTP’s report.

“It’s no secret that, like legacy casinos, these so-called social casinos profit the most when their players lose,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of Campaign for Accountability, the nonprofit watchdog group that runs TTP. “By taking a direct cut of the money players pour into apps and by profiting from their ads, Facebook may benefit from the addiction and financial ruin of its users.”

An ongoing lawsuit against Facebook, brought by over two dozen social casino players who have lost as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars after being hooked on what they call “predatory” games, highlights the impact of these games and Facebook’s role in it. The suit says that the apps, through their partnership with Facebook and other platforms, have “found a way to smuggle slot machines into the homes of consumers nationwide, twenty-four hours a day and three-hundred-sixty-five days a year.”

One way that Facebook makes money from social casino games is through the 30% service fee it charges on payments made through its platform. It also collects ad revenue when the apps advertise on Facebook. While Facebook’s parent company Meta does not disclose the fees it generates from social casinos, it is clearly profiting from the games, which have grown to be an estimated $9 billion market.

TTP also found that Facebook is profiting from hundreds of ads from sweepstakes casinos—casino-style games that offer free-to-play options but allow players to spend real money for extended play, and—unlike social casinos—offer real cash payouts. They claim that their dual-currency system makes them distinct from gambling, but several states have banned them.

Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.