Paf and Meta Launch Pilot Project in Switzerland to Address Unlicensed Gaming, Starting Shortly
Paf has reached an agreement with Meta on a pilot project aimed at stopping unlicensed gaming companies, with the work set to begin shortly. Published on 05 October 2026, the project starts in Switzerland, and the stated goal is to build a model there that can then be scaled up to more markets.
The initiative was presented by Jesper Eliasson, Chief Business Development Officer at Paf, during the SBC Summit in Lisbon. It sets out to address the unlicensed-operator problem at the advertising layer, where licensed and unlicensed brands compete for the same social media space.
How the Paf and Meta data-sharing model works
Paf will share licence documents and URLs with Meta so the platform gets a clearer picture of which operators are licensed and which are not. According to Paf, the material will cover both operators and affiliates.
In the Swiss market, unlicensed operators work systematically to get around the social media platforms’ controls, and the European patchwork of licences makes it difficult to establish who is actually behind an advertisement.
Why Paf is starting the pilot in the Swiss market
Paf is the technology and knowledge partner of mycasino.ch, which is operated by Grand Casino Luzern. The site is the market leader in the licensed Swiss market, with revenue of more than EUR 100 million a year, which gives the pilot a significant licensed operation to build around.
Eliasson framed the choice of market as deliberate.
“The license can come from somewhere entirely different, and in that tangle of jurisdictions it is hard to spot. That is why we are focusing on Switzerland, to see whether we can build a model that can then be scaled up,” says Jesper Eliasson.
The regulatory tools Paf wants authorities to use
Paf is clear that the deal with Meta is one part of a wider effort. The company wants supervisory authorities to use the tools that work against unlicensed operations: cease and desist letters to operators and affiliates, structured cooperation between authorities in different markets, including US authorities with long experience and considerable reach, and the possibility of freezing the assets of operators that deliberately target a regulated market.
Eliasson also noted the limits of product restrictions as a standalone measure. If the rules become too tight, and the entertainment value drops with them, players move on elsewhere online, and the effect is the opposite of the one intended.
Paf’s responsible gaming case for the partnership
Paf’s stated reason for engaging is consistent with its wider positioning around responsible play. The company’s argument is that players should be met by responsible terms, loss limits and tools that work, and that this requires them to play with operators that take on that responsibility.
“I don’t want to share the market with anyone who has no license, has not paid for the license or the compliance work, and who also has no responsible gaming measures in place,” says Jesper Eliasson.
What the Paf and Meta pilot means for iGaming regulation
The first step has now been taken, and the pilot is ready to begin. Paf is candid about the outcome, with Eliasson noting that the company does not yet know whether it will succeed but that good conversations are under way and Meta does not want illegal operators on its platform. Whatever the result, the stated intention is to keep working with Meta against unlicensed operators.
For the wider industry, the significance is less about this single pilot and more about the template. If a licensed operator can supply a platform with the data it needs to police advertising at scale, it points to a repeatable enforcement front that sits between regulators and the market. The open question is whether platforms, regulators and operators can keep that cooperation structured enough to matter once it moves beyond one country.
Source: Paf Group
