Google expanded personalized gambling advertising on YouTube in the US, UK and Canada from October 30. The company also classified prediction markets as sensitive advertising, placing them under the same targeting rules as gambling.
Personalized advertising lets campaigns target audiences by interests, demographics and location. Gambling advertisers can use predefined Google audiences configured to exclude sensitive user signals. The rules explicitly ban advertiser-curated audiences and targeting based on health information related to gambling. Ads cannot target minors: users under 18 are excluded from personalized advertising under Google's policy. Permission to use personalized ads does not automatically grant the right to advertise on YouTube — advertisers must still meet the platform's other requirements.
Prediction markets face a separate policy. Advertisers must hold all applicable local financial, commodity and gaming licenses. Approved locations currently cover the US, excluding Connecticut, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Ohio — the UK and Canada remain outside this list despite the personalized targeting expansion. In the US, only exchanges authorized by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and brokerages authorized by the National Futures Association (NFA) offering access to specified exchange-listed products are eligible. Binary options that pay a fixed amount or nothing based on asset price movement are banned separately.
The restrictions arrive as prediction markets face disputes over their legal status: federal regulators are contesting Utah's attempt to regulate event contracts under state gambling laws.
This is the second change to Google's gambling advertising rules in a month. On October 7, the company announced that certified online-gambling advertisers would gain access to YouTube Masthead placements from October 21.
