Google is widening its gambling advertising certification system from 14 September 2026, expanding requirements first introduced in March 2026 to cover every category under its Gambling and Games policy.

The change affects online gambling and gambling-promoting content, offline gambling, online non-casino games, and social casino games. Google posted the update on 13 July 2026, giving advertisers roughly two months to prepare.

Under the expanded rules, every advertiser seeking to run ads in any gambling and games category must demonstrate “good policy health” to hold a valid certificate. Google says this standard weighs two factors: the advertiser’s licensing status, and its track record of complying with Google’s own platform policies over time. This is a widening of scope rather than a new system: the underlying certification requirements have applied to some gambling categories since March 2026, and this update extends the same standard to every remaining category.

The update also introduces a firm domain ownership rule. An advertising domain must be directly owned and controlled by the business running the ad. Websites hosted on free subdomains are not eligible for certification, and a domain with no genuine connection to gambling is also ineligible, closing off a route some advertisers previously used to run ads through unrelated or borrowed domains.

The update pays particular attention to Manager Accounts, the structure agencies typically use to oversee advertising for multiple clients at once. A Manager Account that accumulates repeated gambling-certificate revocations, or that oversees individual accounts repeatedly flagged for gambling policy violations while holding a valid certificate, will forfeit its eligibility to apply for any new gambling certificates. Existing certifications under that Manager Account may also be revoked.

In practice, this means an agency cannot simply move a problematic advertiser between client accounts to sidestep an earlier violation. A pattern of repeated breaches, whether tied to one advertiser or spread across several accounts an agency manages, now puts that agency’s entire ability to hold gambling certification at risk.

This is a platform policy from Google, not a decision by the UK Gambling Commission or the Advertising Standards Authority, and it does not change UK gambling law or licensing requirements directly. What it does is add a further check on which operators can legally advertise gambling products through Google, since only advertisers who can demonstrate a clean licensing and compliance record will retain certification.

For UK players, the practical effect is that gambling ads seen through Google should increasingly come from advertisers who have passed this additional layer of scrutiny. For UK-licensed operators, and for any agency running their Google advertising, keeping accurate licensing documentation on file and maintaining a clean policy record becomes more important than before, since a lapse can now affect an entire Manager Account rather than just one advertiser’s account.