Google Expands Gambling and Games Ad Certification to All Categories

An update to Google’s Gambling and games advertising policy took effect on September 14, 2026, expanding the certification eligibility requirements the company launched in March to every category covered by the policy. All accounts seeking to advertise in any gambling and games category must now demonstrate what Google terms good policy health.

Google set out the change in its Advertising Policies Help Center on July 13, 2026, stating that the policy’s Certification section would be updated when the requirements took effect. The company notes that the English version of the Help Center is the official language used to enforce Google Ads policies.

Manager Accounts and Domain Rules

Under the update, Manager Accounts (MCCs) with repeated online gambling certificate revocations, or with accounts under their management repeatedly flagged for gambling violations while using a certificate, forfeit eligibility to apply for any new online gambling certificates and may have existing certifications revoked.

The operative Gambling and games policy states that a Manager Account which has had a significant volume of gambling or games certificates revoked from accounts under its management, or whose managed accounts are found in significant volumes to have violated the gambling policy while relying on a certificate, loses the ability to apply for any certificate under the policy for any account under its management.

Google also reiterated domain requirements that already exist on the certification application. Websites hosted on free subdomains are ineligible, the domain must be directly owned and controlled by the business, and standalone domains unrelated to gambling are ineligible for certification.

Earlier 2026 Changes

The September 14 update follows two earlier revisions to the same policy in 2026. Google announced on January 22, 2026 that the policy would be updated on March 23, 2026 to introduce the new certification requirements, including the good-policy-health standard and the Manager Account penalty. That notice also restated the domain rules, stating that certification is not available for sites hosted on free platforms, those using a sub-domain whose root domain is a third-party platform host, those with no association with gambling, or those with a second-level domain not owned and operated by the advertiser.

Google then announced on July 23, 2026 that on August 26, 2026 it was updating its certification applications and standards for all online gambling jurisdictions, online non-casino games where certification is required, and social casino games. Revised application forms went live that day, and all new applicants must use them.

Application Requirements and Enforcement

To qualify for and maintain certification, advertisers must hold a valid local licence for every region they intend to target and provide evidence of that licence. Where an advertiser’s relationship to a licensee is unclear, the advertiser must submit documentation describing the relationship between the advertising entity, the gambling entity and the associated domain.

Destination sites must prominently display an age warning, addiction resources, terms and conditions, and a footer containing the licensee name, licence number and a privacy policy identifying the data controller. Operators must explicitly state their registered business name and licence number. Affiliates and aggregators that are not required to hold a licence themselves must link exclusively to licensed and authorized gambling entities in the targeted region and carry a prominent footer statement confirming that all outbound links meet that condition.

Operators promoting a mobile application must place a prominent, working link to the app’s official App Store or Google Play listing on the licensed domain, and a direct link back to the registered domain on the app’s store landing page.

A separate application is required for each country targeted. A single Google Ads account cannot hold both an online gambling certification and a social casino game certification, nor certifications for two different social casino targeting groups. Advertisers must recertify after any material change to the information provided in an application; failure to do so could result in account suspension.

The policy covers online gambling, offline gambling, online gambling-promoting content, online non-casino games and social casino games. Gambling ads must target only approved countries, use a landing page that displays responsible gambling information, and never target minors. For the United Kingdom, operators of online bingo, sports betting, online casino games and lotteries must be registered with the Gambling Commission and hold a valid operating licence number. For the United States, advertisers of horse racing, sports betting and online casinos must be licensed by the relevant state entity where legal, must not target users under 21 or outside licensed states, and must include warnings against addictive and compulsive gambling; Google allows national targeting for sports betting ads on YouTube.

Social casino games require their own certification and may be promoted only in listed country groups. The policy names sweepstake casinos as an example of games that are not social casino games, and states that violations of the social casino rules are treated as egregious, bringing suspension upon detection and without prior warning. Gmail ads, Shopping ads, reservation display ads, and Google TV and YouTube masthead ads cannot promote gambling.

Serving gambling ads without a valid certification may result in an account being prohibited from running ads until certification is received, while submitting false application information or relying on certification to advertise products the policy does not permit results in suspension. The policy page also states that, starting in September 2026, applications for social casino games must be submitted through an advertiser’s Google Ads account rather than the Help Center, with existing submitted applications unaffected.