Google has expanded personalized gambling advertising on YouTube across the US, UK and Canada while retaining restrictions on sensitive targeting, advertiser certification and underage audiences. Prediction-market advertisers will continue to operate under separate rules.
Personalized advertising allows businesses to tailor campaigns to specific audience groups based on their characteristics.
Google allows targeting based on interests, demographics and location but prohibits advertisers from creating their own audience groups for sensitive categories such as gambling. Its policy states: “You can't use advertiser-curated audiences.” Targeting based on gambling-related health information is also prohibited.
Google distinguishes between its own predefined audience groups and those created by advertisers. For sensitive categories such as gambling, advertisers can use Google's predefined audiences, which the company says are designed to exclude sensitive user signals.
Its gambling advertising rules continue to require advertiser certification, valid licensing and responsible gambling information. Ads must not target minors and users under 18 remain ineligible for personalized advertising. The update also does not remove existing restrictions on unlicensed operators.
Prediction-market operators face stricter advertising conditions, with Google's separate policy limiting eligible campaigns to approved US locations and excluding the UK and Canada.
Google's separate prediction-market policy requires advertisers to hold "all applicable local financial, commodity, and/or gaming licenses".
The approved US locations currently exclude Connecticut, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Ohio.
The US requirements identify qualifying CFTC-authorized exchanges and NFA-authorized brokerages offering access to specified exchange-listed products.
In August, Google tightened gambling ad certification requirements with new rules covering licensing, website compliance, affiliates and recertification. The changes apply globally.
On 23 March, Google updated its certification policy to require account "good standing" for gambling advertisers
