According to ReadWrite, Google Ads has emailed advertisers warning of stricter Gambling & Games certification rules set to take effect on March 23, 2026. The new requirements mandate that applicants demonstrate “good policy health” across their account to be eligible. Specifically, certification will be denied to sites hosted on free platforms, those using a third-party’s subdomain, or if the advertiser doesn’t own and operate their own second-level domain. The policy also targets sites with no real association with gambling. Furthermore, manager accounts (MCCs) and their linked accounts that face repeated certificate revocations or violations will become permanently ineligible for online gambling certificates.
Google cleans up the casino
So, what’s really going on here? Google is basically trying to clean up the wild west of online gambling ads. For years, sketchy operators could set up a quick site on a free platform, get a temporary certification, run some shady ads, and then vanish. Rinse and repeat. Now, Google is saying that game is over. You need to own your domain outright. You can’t just be a subdomain of some bigger, nebulous platform. That’s a huge barrier to entry for fly-by-night operations.
And here’s the thing: the “good policy health” requirement is arguably the bigger stick. It’s not just about one ad being compliant. Google is looking at your entire account history. It means if you’ve been a bad actor in other ad categories, you probably won’t get to play in the high-stakes gambling arena either. This move forces a level of long-term accountability that simply didn’t exist before. It’s a classic case of platform maturity—the rules get tighter as the market gets bigger and more scrutinized.
The broader crackdown context
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Look at Google’s recent moves. They reclassified sweepstakes casinos away from “social games,” which was a major loophole. They’ve tweaked rules on offline gambling ads and even made some allowances for prediction markets in the US. It’s all part of a delicate, ongoing calibration. Google is walking a tightrope between capturing the massive revenue from regulated gambling advertising and avoiding the regulatory hellfire that comes with promoting illegal or predatory operations.
The consequence for repeated violations is brutal, by the way. Getting your manager account (MCC) blacklisted from gambling certs permanently? That’s a business-ending event for many ad agencies and affiliate networks. It shows Google is willing to cut off whole ecosystems, not just individual bad ads. This will likely lead to a consolidation in the market, favoring larger, well-established gambling companies with pristine compliance records and their own infrastructure. The little guys, or the shady guys, are getting squeezed out. And maybe that’s the whole point.
