Google to Implement Stricter Rules on Gambling Advertisements – The Gaming Boardroom

The Gaming Boardroom
Where the gambling industry comes to think
Google Ads will introduce tougher certification requirements under its updated Gambling and Games policy, effective 23 March 2026. Advertisers in all gambling-related categories must demonstrate stronger policy compliance and a solid compliance history to be eligible for certification.
The update tightens eligibility rules: applicants must own the second-level domain of their website, show a genuine connection to gambling activity, and cannot use free hosting, third-party subdomains or operate multiple second-level domains for gambling advertising. Google will also scrutinise how gambling operations are hosted and structured, aiming to ensure adverts are run by legitimate operators and to reduce scams and misleading ads.
The move looks designed to align Google with increasingly strict regional rules — especially across the EU and nearby jurisdictions such as the UK, Switzerland and Norway — and to protect users from fraudulent operators. For operators, affiliates and marketers this is a structural change: domain ownership and hosting setup could determine whether you can advertise at all.
Sites relying on subdomains, free platforms or holding multiple SLDs for marketing purposes will need to reassess technical set-up and compliance documentation now. Regulators across Europe have been ramping up scrutiny of gambling marketing, and Google appears to be tightening its rules to better fit those local regimes and to limit bad actors.
Short version: if you run gambling ads or work with gambling affiliates, this could hit your campaigns. Get your house in order — own your domain, lock down hosting, and tidy up your compliance record. If you don’t, Google may simply refuse your certification and your ads will stop running.
Author note (punchy): This isn’t a tweak — it’s a potential business-stopper. Read the detail, check licences and hosting now, or risk losing ad access come March.
Source: https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/google-to-implement-stricter-rules-on-gambling-advertisements/

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