Google will expand the range of markets in which authorized buyers can serve online gambling and social casino advertising through its programmatic network from August 10th, while separately imposing stricter certification requirements on gambling advertisers using Google Ads from September 14th.
The company notified AdSense publishers of the Authorized Buyers change in a mandatory service email sent on July 20th. Under the update, authorized buyers will be permitted to promote online gambling and social casino gaming content across an expanded list of geographies, and the certification step that currently applies to end advertisers in the programmatic channel will be removed in those markets.
The email named 37 territories: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Advertising served under the expanded policy must comply with applicable local laws, regulations and industry standards in each market. The policy covers online casinos, sportsbooks, bingo and slot websites and applications, online lottery products, sports betting, and games involving virtual currencies or in-game items with real-world value.
Google’s existing Authorized Buyers gambling policy includes a country table governing how gambling creatives may serve across auction types. Creatives targeting countries outside that table are disapproved, other than where a creative is served through preferred deals or programmatic guaranteed arrangements with a publisher block override enabled. The full revised policy language is scheduled for publication on the Authorized Buyers policy page on August 10, the date the change takes effect.
The company said the update applies specifically to the Authorized Buyers policy and does not alter other advertising frameworks, including the Google Ads Gambling and Games policy. Publishers in the newly added markets may see a higher volume of gambling-related display advertising as a result, though they retain the ability to block individual advertisers, restrict specific authorized buyers, and block sensitive or general advertising categories through the Ad Review Center.
A separate set of changes to the Google Ads Gambling and Games policy takes effect on September 14. Those changes concern which advertisers are permitted to use Google Ads rather than the jurisdictions in which gambling advertising may run. Advertisers will need to meet expanded certification standards and maintain what Google describes as good policy health to retain approval, with the company weighing both licensing status and a record of compliance with platform rules.
Operators with repeated violations or weak compliance histories may be denied certification or have existing approvals withdrawn. Marketing agencies managing multiple advertising accounts face additional scrutiny, with repeated breaches across manager accounts potentially affecting certification eligibility. Taken together, the two updates widen access to Google’s publisher network for programmatic gambling demand while raising the compliance threshold for advertisers buying directly through Google Ads.
